


Look at me

by GriffinGrey



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Betrayal, F/M, Kabby, Love, Smut, against, au kabby, hard decisions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:27:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23896060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GriffinGrey/pseuds/GriffinGrey
Summary: Hi everyone! So, here it is! This is not my first Kabby fic but it’s the first one I decided to translate in English. I usually write in French and this story is available in this language. Be indulgent with my syntax please :)Enjoy the read!!
Relationships: Abby Griffin & Marcus Kane, Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane
Comments: 27
Kudos: 63





	1. Wisdom

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! So, here it is! This is not my first Kabby fic but it’s the first one I decided to translate in English. I usually write in French and this story is available in this language. Be indulgent with my syntax please :)
> 
> Enjoy the read!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of her ordeal.

Abigail Griffin was definitely the _perfect_ woman.

Always well dressed, polite, beautifuly breathtaking, and above all, wise to make pale the Dalahi Lama.

Her mother, Jean Walters, had taught her the art of being courteous and neat, like any real lady should be. She had taught her to say "thank you," "please," "excuse me," and all other marks of politeness.

As a senior member of their society, she had conveyed grace and elegance to her only child. Respecting the conventions was very important to her and so, little Abigail had to follow the rules since an early age.

Not that it displeased her.

When she thought of her mother, Abby had no resentment, only gratitude. She knew her mother was who she was for her good and for that one day, Abby can be accepted in the high sphere of society without a problem.

To be respected, you have to show a good and upright attitude.” She told her, when Abby was learning to count.

Despite this, the two women kept a rather confrontational relationship. They had both a big character and often flare up, saying regrettable things sometimes. Conflicts started usually from nothing and ended up with insults and threats.

During a big argument about her clothes choices, Abby, fifteen then, had threatened to run away. Of course she didn’t, but sometimes when she was thinking about it, she wondered what would have happened if she was threatened with implementing. Jean would surely stop supporting her financially and Abby would’ve abandoned her plans to become a famous doctor.

In situations like this, a single person has been able to calm her down and deter her form killing each other. Mark Walters.

Abby's father.

A good man and particularly loved by anyone. The most loving father in the world and a perfect husband.

Mark Walters was the ideal man in many ways.

Abby had always had a strong bond with him, better than the one with her mother.

He had taught her to love others and to help as many people as possible. A renowned surgeon, he was the doctor in the family. He had transmitted this part of himself to his little princess, learning her how to love science and medicine. Abby had inherited this natural need to help other from her fatherly model.

Mark had also taught her the difference between the good and the bad. Life was either white or black for him, so it was for Abby.

Now everything was much more complicated, more nuanced.

Mark Walters died after a cancer, the year Abby moved to Arkadia.

His mother held her responsible.

Of course, the conveniences prevented her from say it directly but Abby wasn’t fooled. She understood the implied of her mother when she made a call. Tensions between mother and daughter haven’t stoped heighten over the years.

This illness made Abby understand that life was gray and bitter. There was neither white nor black. Everything was simply a shade of gray either darker or lighter and the only way to get out of it was to keep having hope. She believes that the future would be more beautiful.

And it was. At least for a while.

***

Abby dropped on the mattress, panting and laughing.

“That was... wow! We should celebrate your birthday every day.”

She laughed again and slowly took back a breath. Her husband lay on her stomach next to her and smiled.

“God yes.”

They laughed together and Abby stroked her man's back.

“Do you want me to lunch with you this afternoon? I could bring you a cake and we would celebrate your 35 years with dignity.”

“I'd like that, believe me. But I’ve to finish my report.”

“Still the one on the groundwater?”

She made small circles on his scapula and gazed at him lovingly.

“No. Not this time.”

He turned on his back and looked at the ceiling of their room before continuing. “This is the one concerning the rate of nitrogen oxide in the atmosphere and their concentration in the molecules...”

She cut him off by leaning over him and kissing him. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. The kiss was long and soft until it was interrupted by a loud noise on the landing. Abby sat up and frowned.

“Clarke?!”

She waited a moment. Then the silence that installed for a few seconds was broken by a muffled voice behind the door.

“Sorry... I didn’t want to wake you up.”

Abby smiled and turned to Jake.

“Our morning sex is over, I guess.” She said with a smirk.

He returned her smile and watched the alarm clock.

“Anyway, it's almost time.”

He straightened up and kissed her on the temple before getting up.

Abby detailed him while she was biting her lip and catcalled him. He laughed and went to get dressed for the job in the dressing room.

Jake Griffin was the best high in the city. Environment’s engineer, blonde with blue eyes, attractive to die and nice with everyone. Abby was blessed to have been chosen by a man like that.

They had been married for about fifteen years now and nothing had changed. They both loved each other in such a pure and true love and had kept it intact for all this years and sometimes Abby wondered if she was dreaming.

“Sweetheart?”

Abby came out of her daydream and focused on Jake who looked at her, confused.

“Yes excuse me. What were you saying?”

He laughed softly and leaned down to kiss her on her forehead.

“Aren’t you working today?”

He was already dressed and ready to go down. _How long had she dreamed?_

“Yes, sorry, yes. I was far away.”

“I saw that.”

He smiled and left the room. Clarke must have been waiting for breakfast.

Clarke Griffin.

She was their daughter, now thirteen years old. Abby had become pregnant while she was in her second cycle of medicine.

Caring for a child at the same time as her reviews wasn’t easy, but fortunately for her, Jake was a year older than she was and finished engineering studies in time to take care of their little blond head.

Thereby, Abby couldn’t be very present for her daughter until she graduated as a doctor.

Clarke was 6 years old then and Jake and her had already developed a stronger bond that daughter and mother would never share.

The alarm sounded and startled her, reminding her suddenly that she was still naked and sticky in her bed while she began her councels in half an hour.

She got up and went to take a quick shower before getting dressed and going down. Jake had already made the coffee and slices of bread roasted in the high-end toaster of their luxury kitchen.

Abby was not only married to a handsome and intelligent man. He was also from a very rich and respected family. Of course, she wasn’t with him for this reason, but choosing him to being her husband greatly improved her relationship with her mother.

Jean found his perfect son-in-law compared to her daughter who never listened to her. Jake was always very courteous and seemliness, never saying any insult or always behaving very well at the table, for example. Unlike Abby who had that fiery and rebellious side that surfaced from time to time. It was one of the traits that Clarke had inherited from her.

So they had a modern house in the genteel suburb of Arkadia. Clarke went to private school and everything was fine in the best of all worlds.

“Mom, you have to sign my exit permit for the sport.”

“Wait until I take my coffee, first.”

She stepped into the kitchen and kissed Clarke on the forehead, passing behind the counter. Jake handed her her cup and she took a sip before sighing with relief:

“OK, show me.”

A morning like the others in this small city of Quebec.

Jake went to Polis for work, the city next to Arkadia, and Abby took Clarke to college before going to the clinic.

When she arrived, she noticed the car and prayed for it to be a mirage.

Mayor Thelonious Jaha had an incident with one of his security agents. Clearly, he had caught a bullet in his stomach. He had been treated at the Polis hospital but the doctors had sent the file to Abby for recovery.

Abby had nothing against Thelonious. He was Jake's best friend and therefore Clarke's godfather. The ting that she was starting to find annoying was the fact that safety accompanies him everywhere even for his routine consultation.

Abby had nothing against security. It was important to protect the mayor, his friend, after this incident, it was certain, but the men in his security guard tapped her lightly on the system. One, especially, with whom she had a conflict at each visit, if everything went well.

Marcus Kane.

A cold, heartless man who took pleasure in coming to every consultation with the mayor. He was having fun pushing her button and she couldn’t keep her rage every time he did it. They had known each other for a while now, so he knew how to piss off her.

It was an acquaintance of her husband and he was part of the city council just like Jake and her. Life seemed to want to put Marcus Kane on her way every time she didn’t expect it.

The only good thing about it was that she also knew which button to press to make him react.

Abby sighed after walking past the black SUV and realized it was not an illusion. She went through the reception to check her meetings and then went up to her office.

He was there. Leaning against his office door, arms crossed over his chest. He was still wearing that black suit, his shoes rising, black. Almost as black as his well-coiffed hair. Kane and the black...

She stepped out of the elevator and took her arrogant expression she had purposely made for him over the years.

“Abby. You are late.”

He had that little smirk that gave the itch of killing to the devoted doctor she was. She hide that feeling with the same smile and a dark look.

“Kane. What do I owe the pleasure ?”

She pressed the word _pleasure_ to make it clear that it was the opposite.

He chuckled and pulled himself away from the door to let her open her office and enter. He came in behind her and shut the door. She put down her purse and pulled off her jacket, pulling her chair.

“I wanted to warn you that Jaha will not come anymore.

“Oh. He sees another doctor?”

She put on her blouse and sat down to start reading her urgent files.

“No. He decided to not come to consultation anymore.”

She looked up from her files and looked at him with a frown.

“What do you mean, _decided_?”

He went over and picked up one of the family executives Abby kept on her desk. Jake, Abby and Clarke skiing.

He watched her without saying anything for a second and put it back where he had taken it.

“How's Jake? I didn’t see him at the last council meeting.”

“He had work. Answer my question please.”

He took another frame. Abby and Jake at the beach.

“I advised Jaha not to come back to see you.”

Abby laughed sarcastically. _What an unbearable man..._

“Why am I not surprised?”

She folded her arms over her chest and leaned back in her file. She saw him look at her and swallow before resting the frame.

“He has to focus on his program. It's more important.”

He sat in front of her, on one of the free chairs and stared at her with sharping eyes. Abby stepped forward and layed her elbows on her desk, keeping her arms under her breasts. He swallowed again but his eyes remained stuck in hers.

“More important than his life?”

He was going to answer but Abby's beeper interrupted them.

_Saved by the gong_ , she thought.

She looked at the code and realized that Jackson must be waiting for her in the consultation room.

“Well, I have to go. You know where’s the exit?! She said taking her stethoscope and heading towards the door.”

She was going out before turning one last time to reply:

“Oh, and tell Thelonious I want to see him tonight at five-thirty. I know you love working late.”

She smiled proudly but her peak did not have the desired effect. Instead of getting angry, he sneered softly as he got up and approached her.

“You know I love working late. Especially when it's for seeing you.”

Abby did not know why but something in his eyes told her that he was sincere and his cheeks warmed.

_She blushed in front of Marcus Kane._

He was sincerely glad to see her tonight and she had to admit that deep down in her, it touched her. _More than that._

It awoke in her a desire she had buried deep inside of her, a long time ago.

As she did not move and probably had a petrified face by shock and embarrassment, he took the lead and brought his face to her. His perfume invaded her and she surprised herself to detail the scent.

_Spicy, woody, amber... mysterious._

_Like his personality._

Her gaze shifted from his to his lips and imagined the delicious taste they must have.

_Maybe scented coffee he had to take this morning? Or did he prefer tea? Were they gentled? Or sweet?_

_Stop._

She swallowed and looked up in his. He still had that impassive expression, as if being so close to her did not give him a hundredth of what she was feeling right now.

He stuck his smirk on this beautiful mouth and spoke in a hoarse voice.

“See you tonight, Abby.”

He walked around her and left the room, leaving her alone with her confused thoughts.

She stayed forbidden for a few minutes and squeezed her thighs.

_What had he done?_

She was aware of this tension that had existed between them for almost always but it had never made her crotch wet at this point.

Just thinking about it, she could already hear her mother insulting her with all the names for misleading Jake mentally.

_Anyway, she would never do that._

First, because Marcus Kane was a _bastard_.

He was surely the kind of man sleeping with a woman for his selfish pleasure without giving anything in exchange.

Secondly, because she loved Jake with all her heart and just thinking about hurting him make her nauseated.

Thirdly, because she was an honest and wise woman.

Abby was not the kind of woman to be seduced by a handsome dark brown and mysterious like Kane.

_A wise woman, Abby. Wise._ She repeated to herself as she came down to find Jackson.

Hopefully, her busy day would take away her exquisite thoughts about a man other than her husband.

_Her ordeal Marcus Kane had begun._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it begins slowly but I promise you a good and hot story ;)
> 
> Let me know if you like it and let some kudos!!
> 
> Sending love <3


	2. Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wine doesn’t come out of stuff.

Marcus Kane was certainly the most hated man in Arkadia.

He was a hard and cold man, always dressed in black and only in black.The only color he wore was the dark brown of his irises.

He didn't always realize he was like that, but he also played it sometimes.Suppressing his emotions deep within him, suffocating them with rules and laws to defend.

If he did that, it was because life had shown him that everything was easier without feeling and emotion.

By life, read _his father_.

Stefan Kane had left his wife and six-year-old son for no reason, leaving Marcus and his mother in insecurity.

As a little boy, Marcus hadn’t understand yet the gravity of their situation. His father was a renowned doctor and had decided without warning to leave his wife without any amount of money to part of his son's alimony. Marcus didn’t really know him, and he lacked the father/son’s relationship that he had been deprived of.

He would never admit it though.

His father had abandoned them and that was all that mattered to him. That and the fact that her mother, Vera Kane, lives with a burden on her shoulders.

_Him_.

She didn’t show it or very rarely but over the years, he had learned to read in her eyes, in her attitude.

Vera loved her son more than anything in the world, necessarily.

Marcus was her little sun, as she often told him this since his childhood, but he understood. It had been more than hard for her to change her life overnight and take care of a child, alone.

So every time his mother's eyes were empty, that she suddenly stopped listening to him, or even isolated herself, Marcus understood.

She loved him and yet he reminded her of his father far too much. He had read it in her facial expressions.

He was good at deciphering people and knowing exactly what they were thinking. It was a gift he had perfected when he started in the police.

This blow of life pushed him to want justice. He would have become a lawyer or even a politician, but studies were far too expensive.

So after school, he entered the police. Once his diploma in his pocket, work didn’t take long to come and it was his long-time friend,Thelonious Jaha, who offered him a post at the town hall and a seat on the municipal council in their hometown.

Marcus couldn’t refuse. The salary was too high for them so they can refus, him and _his mother_.

He no longer lived with her, but he paid her money as many times as he could in the month.

Her church work didn’t allow her to be able to live properly then he helped her, _when he could_.

  
  


She was his mother and he couldn't abandon her. Not like his father did thirty years ago.

Nobody knew all of these things. Of course there were _rumors_ , as in all small towns but no one really knew the important informations.

***

“Take a deep breath.”

Thelonious took a deep breath.

“Abby ... I'm telling you that I feel very good.”

“I spent twelve hours treating you on the operating table. So there’s no way that I let you screw everything up.”

Abby was finishing Thelonious's daily auscultation. He had explained to her in person that he no longer needed to come, but the doctor had the bit between the teeth. She was conscientious, no one could take that away from her.

“It’s ok. I'm done. You can put your shirt back on.”

She smiled at her patient and he gave it back, putting on his shirt.

“By the way, I'm having a little party for spring.”

“Thelonious...”

“Before you say no, Jake said you'd come.”

Abby pursed her lips and cursed her husband mentally. He wasn’t about to get out of it without a little argument tonight.

“So, how to say no ?!”

She put a polite smile on her lips.

Parties weren’t Abby's taste. Especially the one organized by the mayor.

Usually, Jaha used it to lobby and serve his campaign and of course, Jake and she were always invited.

Of course, they were friends but Abby suspected Jaha of using this friendship to gain votes.

After all, Jake was an outstanding engineer, respected by the people of Polis, where he practiced, and Arkadia and Abby was a doctor recognized by her coworkers as one of the best.

It was an asset to present such a thriving community to potential investors or future buyers after the sponsorship season had started.

She could have said no, but every spring it was the same tune. Jake gave her a whole sermon on friendship and the importance of maintaining these deep ties.

Blah blah blah... This was what Abby thought of being friends with people like that. Because she knew deep down that at the slightest opportunity, at the slightest disagreement with the mayor, she’d paid the price and _her family too_.

“It takes place in the villa that I rent every year, Saturday at 7:30 p.m.”

He got up from the examination table and put on his suit jacket.

“Wait, I take a look at your prescription.”

Abby had deliberately ignored his comment.

She keeps smiling and for a moment, she thinks she was stuck.

As her mother always told her, don't wince or you'll get stuck.

_If only she listened more often..._

Abby was brought out of her thoughts by the dour opening. She looked up from her file and fell into Kane's chocolate irises. She swallowed and tried to appear as neutral as possible.

“Sir, we have to go.”

Marcus kept his eyes on the doctor, his face unmoved as always.

Earlier in the day, he had made the mistake of showing a tiny part of himself and he cursed himself for doing so.

Usually, people wait for you to let your guard down to get into the breach and embarrass you, using what you gived to hurt you.

Abby hadn't done anything like that yet, not a single remark. But Marcus knew she would, sooner or later. _Everyone was doing it_.

“Kane. I'm waiting for the order and I'm coming. Wait in the car, it’ll not take much longer.

“Sorry, but it's not the protocol.”

Abby let out a sneer as she corrected the painkiller doses in her patient's chart. Marcus clenched his jaw.

_The breach..._

“Wait behind the door then.”

He complied and left the examination room, not without glowering at the doctor.

Thelonious approached and looked Abby full height before declaring in a calm voice:

“Tell Jake that I'm looking forward to him.”

Abby raised her chin to show him that she wasn’t intimidated by his little show.

He narrowed his eyes and ended up smiling. This false honeyed smile that he used to his political supporters and/or opponents.

“I reduced your painkillers to one per day for a week. If it's going as well as you say it won't hurt. Otherwise, you will come back to tell me that I was right.”

The mayor sneered and took the piece of paper she held out to him before going out. When the door of the room closed behind him, Abby let out a sigh of relief.

In the past, she had been friends with this man. Their respective families used to meet for barbecues and hockey games.

_Then everything had changed._

Thelonious had lost his wife and son in a tragic accident, six years ago, and he had become colder, more closed to everyone, including his long-time friends.

After this last consultation, Abby went home to change clothes before finding her lifelong friend, _Callie Cartwig_.

Callie had been Abby's best friend for over ten years now. She attended et her graduation, her marriage and she was here when she gave born to Clarke.

The two women told each other everything about their lives and their little daily worries.

Also, every Thursday evening, after their respective jobs, they found themselves in the _Moonlight_ , the best tapas bar in the area. It was pretty chic so appropriate for a woman like Abby but also very relaxed and atypical.

When they got home, Abby sighed in. She hung her blouse on the coat rack at the entrance and removed her baskets.

“Sweetheart?!”

_Second sigh_.

She was going to have to explain herself with her husband and she wasn’t really in the mood.

“I’m coming. Just a sec.”

She puts down her car keys and unpins her ponytail before stepping into the dining room. Clarke sat at the end of the table and finished her homework.

“How are you baby?”

“Great ... I got 16 in math.”

“16 ?! Why only 16?”

The young blonde pouted and before she could answer Jake poked his head around the room.

“Hello, my love.”

He stepped forward for a kiss but Abby shifted.

“You will first explain to me what it took you to say to Jaha that we would come on Saturday.”

“Abby... Let me first wish you good evening.”

He stood behind her and gently massaged her shoulders. Abby relaxed a little under his hands but didn’t forget the bottom of the problem however.

“I'm sick of you forcing me to hang out with these people, Jake.”

She closed her eyes in spite of herself.

“Shhh. Let yourself go for a moment.”

“I have finished my homework. Can I play the console now?!”

Clarke looks at her father hopefully but it was her mother who answers for him.

“You should rather learn your lessons for next week. Saturday evening you are going to grandmother's and I would like you to have finished your homework before your Hockey match on Sunday morning.”

“Abby, she already worked well this evening.”

Abby turned to her husband and spoke to him curtly. “It is your fault. Next time, you’ll think before you drag us on an evening without any interest.”

On these last words, _full of wisdom_ , Abby went upstairs to change her clothes.

After 15 minutes spent looking for the slim that would fit with her tank top, or what pair of pumps she should put on, she finally decided and put on her clothes.

She combed her hair quickly, with just a pencil line on her lashes, refreshed her mascara and applied a brilliant shine to her little lips.

Most of the time, Abby didn't make up where she applied just a little concealer so as not to scare her patients when she hadn't slept well. But sometimes she liked to feel beautiful.

Tonight she wanted to feel good and drink cocktails with her Cece. If she could upset her husband at the same time, it was a _significant_ bonus.

So, beautiful and ready for her evening, she left her little family and arrived at their meeting ten good minutes later. She entered and looked for a dark hair head.

“Abby! Hey!”

The concern blinked at the caller and smiled softly. She went to the table where Cece was waiting for her and took her in her arms.

“Hi beauty.” Callie smiles.

She sighed in the embrace before letting go and coming to sit next to her.

“You, you’re in a bad mood, is it ?!”

“If only you knew...”

Abby massaged her temples gently.

“Hey, we said no grumpy heads.”

Abby smiled and Callie gently patted her on the shoulder with a sympathetic smile.

“That's right, excuse me.”

“Come on, tell me everything.”

For more than half an hour, the two friends talk about their lives and their worries. Abby explained to her how trapped she felt by Jake for this party story and to that Callie had replied that at least it would only be an evening.

“It's an evening. Every year. With the same people and the same discussions. I'm starting to saturate.”

“At least you don't work for the mayor.”

Callie drunk the rest of her drink and orders a third cosmo from the waiter who passed by.

“Besides, I don't know how you can continue to work there.”

“Easy. Salary.”

The two women laughed together and Abby finished her second glass of red wine.

Callie worked as a press secretary and communications manager for Mayor Jaha for over ten years now. They were friends from school too. Jake, Callie, Thelonious, they all continued their studies at the same university and have not given up since. Marcus had known Thelonious earlier and had only known others since he started working for Jaha.

He had been there since Jaha's beginnings as mayor ten years earlier, but he wasn’t really part of their circle.

***

Abby was finishing her meal and drinking her third glass of red wine when someone behind her shoved her. Her white, immaculate tank top transformed into an abstract art canvas stained with purple red.

“What’s wrong with you?!”

She got up and railed against the culprit, almost as red with anger as the wine on her top:

“You couldn't pay attention to your gestures?!”

Callie got up and took her towel before coming to help her friend to dab the liquid. When Abby turned she bolted from the blue.

“Kane?”

She opened her eyes wide, surprised but redoubled in anger.

“Excuse me. I was pushed.”

He seemed sincere, but Abby starved for let off steam tonight.

“Of course. Nothing is ever your fault. You’re just following the protocol!”

_What was she talking about? It was definitely the wine... three glasses was already a lot._

“Abby, come on. We pay and we go.”

Callie gently pulled her arm to try to convince her friend.

“No.”

She kept her eyes in Kane's.

“What's your problem Abby?”

He was nervous and obviously not so sober either. He had dilated pupils and he smelled of rum with full nose.

_Was he drunk?_

“You. My problem is you and your damn arrogance.”

Callie opened her eyes wide. _Since when did her friend come out with insults like that?_ But Abby paid no attention.

The tension that builds up between Kane and her makes her heart beat faster, her throbbing veins of incredible excitement.

He must have felt it too because his face so impassive and closed, let appear a very particular and recognizable emotion between miles.

_Desire_.

Abby felt her crotch wake up violently when she noticed and her gaze fell on Kane's lips.

For his part, Marcus had felt his body tense. First because of the nervousness then because of the heat which seized him at the sight which offered him this magnificent woman, angry, wearing a white tank top... wet... without bra apparently.

“Abby, come...”

Callie insisted but her friend pulled away from her and took her towel, deflecting Kane's gaze and breaking their intense moment.

“I’ll be back. Start paying.”

Abby went to the toilet to try to wash up for this lost cost and at the same time get as far away from this man as possible.

A few minutes and several unnecessary rubs later, she gave up, dropping the towel in the sink and sighing.

“Fuck this shit.”

She closed her eyes and tried to calm down.

“He's prettier like that.” Said a man's voice behind her.

Abby looked up through the mirror. He came in, probably to apologize.

_He does it wrong_ , she thought.

“There's nothing to be proud of.”

Kane smirked and stepped forward, beating Abby's heart frantically.

“On the contrary. I managed to get Abigail Griffin to swear.”

Abby looked down and smiled despite herself before turning to look at him.

“Funny.” She replied.

This time, he was the one who smiles unwittingly.

She detailed him from head to toe and noticed that for once, he was not only wearing black. Not only in any case.

He had a white t-shirt, hidden under a black leather jacket, his hair usually plastered back was looser.

A rebellious loop fell before his eyes.

_Sexy_ , she thought.

Then he wore dark blue jeans that molded his body really well. Too much surely because she noticed the bump specific to all men...

“Excuse me... I didn't watch where I was going and I stumbled.”

He stepped forward again and Abby backed away a bit, suddenly realizing what she was doing and where she was from. She frowned but kept a smirk.

“I thought someone pushed you.”

Her voice was hoarser than she expected.

Kane opened his mouth to answer but closed it again without saying anything. He runs a hand through his hair, smiling shyly, and looks down.

_Did she make him nervous?_

“It’s ok. You’re forgiven. It wasn’t my favorite.”

She smiled sincerely and he looked at her, grateful.

“I can pay you for the pressing if it's needed...”

Abby sneered and retrieved the towel from the sink, turning her back on him.

“No need. I think it’s the end for this one.”

As she wrung out the piece of fabric, she didn’t see him move towards her a little more and as soon as she looked up, he was a few inches from her.

Her blood boiled all over her body.

Perhaps it was the wine's fault, or the adrenaline that her anger had given her.

Abby took Kane's face between her hands before kissing him passionately, pushing her lips on his vigorously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, this was the second chapter but lot more to come! I hope you like it and see you next week Kabbyfam <3


	3. Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened ?

He came in to apologize. He entered the moonlight ladies' bathroom behind her to apologize.

_Not true._

If he was honest for a second, he would admit that he was not there just to apologize but that he wanted to seduce her. However, he didn’t expect her to kiss him.

Kissing Abby Griffin was a prohibited dream. The forbidden fruit that you had to avoid tasting at all costs.

_The taste_... God, her lips tasted exquisite.

He had imagined several times her lips and the flavor that would have against his. He had raved about their sweetness, their greed. But nothing was comparable to the real feeling they gave him.

Marcus Kane fantasized about Abby Griffin. Like every man in this city. That's what he said to comfort himself when he touched himself at night thinking of this splendid and annoying woman. He reassured himself by saying that every sane and heterosexual man fantasized even once on her. Maybe even some women. But the truth is that he did it more that once.

Usually, these thoughts invaded him after a strong argument that they would have had during the day or during their meetings of the municipal council. She put him out of him and strangely, it turned him on to the highest point.

He didn’t know that it was the same for this unbearable woman.

So when he entered the women's bathroom, he hadn’t imagined she would kiss him. He had never imagined she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

“Abby?!”

She let go of his lips as she caught her breath and her wits. Callie had just surprised them in their incongruous exchange. Marcus moved aside, his back to the intruder, unable to put on his usual impenetrable mask.

“Callie..”

Abby's voice was rather harsh and Marcus get excited a little more. He clasped the sink in his hands to get it out of his mind and control himself.

The door slammed and the two women were gone.

Marcus turned and realized that he had been holding his breath since Callie had burst into the room. He let out a long sigh and leaned against the sink, looking at himself in the mirror. His cheeks were still colored by surprise and desire, his lips swollen after this incredible kiss.

_Did this really happened? Or was he still dreaming?_

If it was only his mind, Callie wouldn't have been there to interrupt them.

***

“Callie please. Let me explain to you.”

Abby ran after her best friend before she get into her car without even hearing her explanation.

“Why? You owe me nothing.”

“Please.”

She managed to grab her by the arms and pulled her gently to stop her before her supplier looked.

“How long have you been cheating on Jake?”

“How long I... What?”

“You know, I don't judge you if it’s that, but I'm extremely disappointed that you didn't trust me enough to come and talk to me about it.”

Abby couldn’t repress a nervous laugh. All of this was _ridiculous_ and insulting.

“Callie...”

“Marcus Kane? Seriously? I thought you hated him.”

“I do. There's nothing going on between him and I, Callie. It was just, a drive.”

“A drive?”

Callie squinted her eyes and examined her friend, putting her hand on her front before asking sarcastically:

“Are you sick or only drunk?”

Abby took her hand away from her and looked very serious. She wasn’t cheating on her husband.

_Never._

_Yet, wasn’t it a dishonest conduct what she just did?_

“I'm neither sick nor drunk. I'm going to go back to the man I love, the one and only man I sleep with.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

Abby left her friend to go home, without looking back. Thoughts were pushed in her head. She finally succumbed to her sexual impulses towards Marcus Kane and the most destabilizing is that she liked it. Enough to want more.

_Pull yourself together!_

As she drove home, to her family, to Jake. Her mind kept repeating the scene over and over.

Her, turning to Marcus, kissing him hard, barely parting her lips to taste his. She was about to feel his tongue against hers when the door opened and Callie interrupted them.

Her friend's anger was legitimate but Abby knew it was _more than that_.

Callie Cartwig had always been " _secretly_ " in love with Abby. The young doctor knew this but had never shared her feelings and they had never spoken about it openly. Also, she surprised several times her friend to look away from the moment her and Jake shared accomplice moments.

What was new was the outburst of uncontrollable jealousy she had given her this evening. She had never been so mad. _Why_?  
It was just a kiss...

A _simple_ kiss.

A _harmless_ kiss with an _ordinary_ man.

A _sweet_ and _fantastic_ kiss.

An _important_ kiss with an unbearably _attractive_ man.

As doubt flowed into her brain, she finally saw her house taking shape at the end of the street.  
Her heart was racing.

Not only she kissed Kane, but she also argued with her best friend. Jake would quickly find out that something was wrong.

_What was she going to do?_

Panic started to go up as she parked her car in its location and went down.

Her hands were trembling as soon as she pulled out her keys from its purse.

The house was plunged into darkness. Hopefully, her small family would sleep. She put down her bunch of keys, making as little noise as possible, and took off her shoes to be more discreet on the wooden steps. The last creaked slightly under her weight and she stopped, checking that there was still silence.

When she felt that she had waited long enough, the young woman advanced on the landing. She walks past Clarke's room and smiles when she sees her asleep.

Her bedside lamp was still on so Abby walked slowly inside to turn it off.

When she had only to press the button, her attention was caught by a sheet on her daughter's bedside table. She turned it over and read it silently.

_Dear,_

_We are honored to announce you that your daughter, Clarke Griffin, has been chosen to represent our school at this year's science fair._

_The event will take place in the common room of Polis Tower and will last the whole day from 01/05/2019._

_Please attach your authorization and this signed word before Friday March 29th._

_Regards,_

_Principal Pike._

Abby smiled without realizing it. Her daughter had been chosen from a prestigious school from over a thousand students. She always knew that her child was intelligent and that is why she constantly pushed further.

What bothered her was the fact that Clarke didn't mention it earlier. The deadline for returning the paper was the next day and if her mother hadn’t found it by chance, farewell to the science competition.

Abby kept the sheet and admired her baby for a second. She really wasn't one anymore.

She entered secondary three and the little blonde, always smiling, had given way to a teenage girl of thirteen, worked by hormones.

However, she kept a steady place for the work and Abby found herself very much in her from this point of view.

Clarke looked like Jake physically: the same blond hair, the same smile, the same sensitivity. But her sense of work was undeniably brought about by her mother, never missing a lesson or any hockey training. She applied herself in her homework and always worked harder, crossing obstacles every time. This was what Jean Walters had taught her daughter who herself had passed on to Clarke.

Abby wanted her daughter to be happy and fulfilled in her life like her. At this thought, the young doctor started to think.

_Was she really happy and fulfilled?_

She loved her job and her daughter. Her husband was loving and kind, their house big and in a quiet area.

Abby had _everything_ to be good but she couldn't answer the question.

It all disappeared when her daughter moved next to her, in her bed. Clarke continued to sleep and Abby put one of her lock of hair that fell into her eyes while smiling.

“My baby...”

The proud mother placed a kiss on the front of her daughter before getting back on the blanket and leaving.

This little moment sootheted her tormented mind and as soon as he finally slipped it into her big bed near Jake, after changing and removing make-up, her heart was beating a little slower.

***

A glass of rum in hand, Marcus Kane treated evil with evil in his small apartment in downtown Arkadia.

The evening had started rather well. His work colleagues were invited him to come and watch the basketball game at the Moonlight and have a drink. Since it doesn't happen that often, he had agreed to relax, for one evening only.

He didn't know at the time that Abby Griffin would _literally_ fall into his arms.

Thinking about it, he gave an incredulous little laugh and drunk a sip before sitting on his bed and looking at the sleepy streets looming before him. The twinkling lights of the lampposts formed a halo of light above the city and it was almost impossible for him to comfort himself by looking at the stars.

It was something his father had learned to him, one of the few things he remembered.

Stefan was sitting at the back of the house, in their little garden, his son on his lap. They spent hours together chasing the constellations and guessing the names of the stars. Little Marcus watched carefully and drank the words of his father, his hero, at the time.

Often, Stefan had to bring his little one who had fallen asleep in his arms while he explained for the hundredth time the concept of gravitation.

_Gravitation..._

_“This is one of the four basic interactions of physics, my little prince.”_

_Young Marcus looked at him, a smile on his lips as his father continued:_

_“It’s this that makes two masses attract. Like the Earth and the sun, for example.”_

Marcus didn't have much memories of his father, but he remained intact.

Gravitation was in his mind when he wanted to explain why Abby Griffin kissed him.

He had initially thought to run after her for confronting her immediately but he had finally decided to leave to think about it first alone.

For real, he hadn’t dared to find her and ask what was that. He had panicked, not knowing if she would ever forgive him.

_Wait, no!_

Marcus blinked and reconsidered the whole event. Of course, he had approached her, certainly he had virtually pushed her in his arms but...

_Had he done something wrong?_

_No. Definitely not._

It was _her_ who was thrown at him. It was _her_ who had pressed her lips against his. It was _her_ who had crossed the red line of desire and unfaithfulness.

He sighed and finished his glass in one go, grimacing.

The day had been long, far too long to keep thinking about what that kiss meant and what he should have done about it. Also, the fatigue was starting to be felt so he put his glass on his kitchen counter and went to change. He turned off his phone without paying attention to the many messages from his mother. He would pay for it tomorrow.

Once under his covers, he looks at the ceiling, promising to go find Abby, before their meeting of the council at eighteen hours, the next day to ask her for an explanation.

He also promises not to dream of her and her lips but his subconscious had decided otherwise.

As soon as his eyelids were closed, he found himself with her in those bloody toilets, hers soft, envious lips dancing against his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!!! I want to apologize for my really bad English... I try to translate my story as good as I can while I still learn this languages..  
> Anyway, tell me if you like it and the next chapter Is coming next week, Kabbyfam!!


	4. Let the game begin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s getting worse or... better?

The smell of black coffee in the morning has always helped to put her in a good mood, even after complicated evenings.

And god knows if it had been a _complicated_ evening.

In the middle of the night, Abby woke up and was unable to close her eyes afterwards. So she ended up on the living room sofa, watching an animal documentary. It was his infallible cure for insomnia and yet, this time, even the blue sharks hadn't helped her.

Thinking about it, a rather funny anecdote crossed her mind.

“ _The blue sharks are biting each other in a romantic way_.” It was one of the few things Abby had remembered from her lost sleep hours and that little comment was touched deep inside her, ignoring the reason.

Jake's yawns brought her down from her cloud and she turned her back on him. She didn't know what to say or what to do. What she had done the day before was clearly a betrayal and she didn't know if she wanted to confess everything or keep it secret.

“You’re there?!” Jake runs his hands over her hips and instead of finding it sexy and hot, disgust took hold of the young woman. He whispered in her ear, pressing his body against hers.

“Hi...” He kissed her on the neck and parted her hair so he could nibble her shoulder.

“Jake...”

“I know... I'm sorry about yesterday.” He pulled his mouth up over her earlobe and sucked on it gently. Usually it was so good, but not this morning.

“Jake please.”

“We don't have to go to this spring gala.” He ran his hands under her skirt and gently pulled them up her buttocks.

This hug was far too hard for Abby to bear. It was too much guilt, questions and stress all at once. So she gently took his wrists and stoped him before he went too far.

“What's the matter?”

Jake pulled away from her and worried, realizing that his wife, who was usually so envious in the morning, pushed him away. The woman in question turned and avoided his gaze as much as possible.

“Nothing. I have to go to work, that's all.”

He frowned and lifted his chin so that her eyes finally met his. She feared he would understand with a simple look.

“Abby... You’re still mad at me about yesterday, right?”

“I...” Abby bit her lip and entered the vicious circle of lies. “Yes.”

“How many times will I have to apologize?”

“Jake, I don't have time.”

Having got up early, she was already ready to leave. As she put on her little jacket and passed her purse over her shoulder, she spoke at top speed, heading for the entrance.

“Tell Clarke that I signed her paper. She’ll understand. Kiss her for me.” Jake caught her outside the door and stopped her in her tracks.

“I saw that your laundry was stained. Do you want me to go to the dry cleaners?”

Flashes of the evening invaded her and she remembered that she had forgotten to soak her white tank top stained with red wine and sins.

“No.No, I’ll go. Don't worry about it.”

“As you wish but...”

“I said no, Jake!” Her husband opened his eyes wide surprised at the tone his wife had just used. She sighed and continued more softly. “Drop Clarke off at my mom's house before training tonight.”

“I thought you should spend time with her.”

“Not this evening. I have... I’ve a delicate situation to settle.”

Jake nodded and let her go. Once in the car, Abby finally breathed.

What’s the matter with her to lie to her husband, the man she loved? It would have been easy for her to say that she was sorry and that the wine had turned her head, that Kane had forced her...

No it wouldn’t have been correct. She had wanted this kiss with this man and although it is hard to admit for the moment, she wanted more.

***

Abby arrived at the clinic a few minutes later, her mood still poor. She didn't notice the big SUV from the town hall and let out a sigh of relief.

_He wasn't here._

As the young doctor got out of the elevator, Marcus Kane's straight, square figure appeared before her office door.

Abby's throat tightened and her heart pounded in her rib cage, pulsing blood through her body at breakneck speed to her brain. Doubt spread through her mind and she felt the questions pile up.

_What was he doing here? How did he come? Was he there for her? Why did he come?_

_You know why._ Her conscience snapped back at her.

She swallowed and walked up with her head high, approaching him as if everything was normal and her lips hadn't tasted his last night.

“Kane.”

She opened her office and entered. He followed her without adding anything and while she put her things down and sat down as she always did, he stood in front of the desk.

He looked at her, his sharp dark chocolate eyes, probing her own looking for a sign of regret, desolation, disgust... but what he saw was an unexpected emotion.

Abby was staring at him, her breath short, desire burning her irises. With surprise, she realized that she wanted it more than anything and the sexual tension which reigned in this room quickly became unbearable.

She got up and hesitantly approached, her head bowed to try to hide the blazing fire that took hold of her neck and cheeks.

“I'm sorry about last night. I was drinking and angry with my husband...”

Marcus said nothing and kept looking at her without blinking so she continued, still advancing cautiously:

“It happened and I should never have... done what I did. I’m married and I have a daughter and it was inappropriate for you. I’d like it if we forget, please.”

The young woman had moved closer than expected and the scent of Marcus tickled her nostrils, sending the notes of wood musk spinning in the olfactory zone of her brain and triggering emotions more than inappropriate in her mind. She swallowed to try to regain control but it was in vain.

“Kane I...”

Before she could finish, Kane answers to their mutual primary needs and kissed her brutally, stopping the flow of words on her lips.

Everything remained unclear for a moment, but the desire that flourished in her quickly overcame her fears and her duties. Her mouth moved against his and her hands clung to this flawless black suit, drawing him against her for more...

_More mouth, more tongue, more of this unbearably sexy man._

Marcus understood the message and pushed her against the wall, at the same time forcing his tongue into her mouth, meeting her own. They both moaned and kissed without stopping.

Marcus’s hands went up in her hair as he curled his tongue to hers. Abby groans again, surprised by this hot and virile man. He was so hot.

A frame fell so she let go of his lips to see the damage and he took the opportunity to kiss her on the neck, biting and licking her soft skin.

Abby couldn't stop the moan of pleasure from coming out of her lungs. It was good, _oh god so good._

Marcus had let go of his animal impulses, which happened very rarely, maybe never.

When he had seen her coming, in her perfectly ironed skirt and blouse, her hair pulled in a flawless bun, the beast that was sleeping in him had appeared. When she spoke, all he could think of was the taste of her lips and the pleasure he would have in taking her on the desk.

As he started to take off her blouse, the door handle moved and he pulled back as fast as lightning. He turned his back to the door to hide his pink cheeks and the huge bump that had just formed in his pants.

Abby, meanwhile, barely had time to catch her breath when Jackson entered the office, a pile of files in his arms.

“Abby, I wanted... Oh, I'm disturbing.”

The concerned woman was going to answer but Marcus turned and took her by surprise. “No, I was leaving.”

He had taken on a neutral and impassive mask.

Abby wondered how he could go from a beastly, hot attitude to cold and stuck in just a few seconds.

Kane passed in front of Jackson and the young doctor came in the room.

“Always as sympathetic for what I see.” He put the files on Abby's desk before turning to her. “Are you okay?You don’t look well.”

Abby blinked and replaced a few locks behind her ears. Her bun so impeccably made a few seconds earlier hardly held any hair and her blouse, so well ironed and tidy, came out of her straight skirt.”

“I'm fine.” She said, leaning over to pick up her frame.

The glass was broken but her state diploma was intact.

“Okay... You have patients with nausea and headaches waiting. The files are there.”

“Did you give them standard treatment?”

“These aren’t new patients...” Abby frowned and took the first file.

“Thanks, Jackson. I’ll take a look.”

***

It was a long and exhausting day, but Abby thought of neither Marcus nor her guilt. The cases she treated had fairly widespread symptoms at the moment and she was beginning to wonder if it was not an epidemic. She still had time to understand what was really going on. For now, she had to go see someone.

This morning, getting dressed, she decided to come find Kane in his office at the town hall, after work. But ultimately it was he who had come to her. Too busy to think about it at work, the young woman didn’t had time to wonder if it was wise to see him again in the evening. Anyway, Abby was a stubborn woman who liked to have the last word.

It was therefore with a determined step that she entered the town hall, a quarter of an hour after leaving work.

It was a beautiful building, modern and state of the art, which was not necessarily a good thing for Abby who needed to call for help every time she wanted to change the wallpaper of her cellphone.

  
  


Sighing, she went through the automatic entrance doors and found herself in the reception hall. She had parted her hair for good when her third patient gave her the same puzzled look she had met all day long because of her messy bun.

_Fucking Kane._

Abby took a step toward Kane's office, ignoring the little voice inside of her that told her not to.

A young girl, blond as wheat, straightened up in her seat behind the reception counter and put down her magazine, smiling big when she saw the doctor.

“Can I help you, Doctor Griffin?”

“Harper, how many times will I have to tell you to call me Abby?” She smiles at the young woman.

“Yes sorry... Abby. The meeting is at 6 p.m. and it's only...” Harper frowned and Abby interrupted her.

“5 p.m., I know. I came to speak to Councilor Kane. Is he available?”

“Uh, yes I think. Let me check.”

She typed on her computer and looked for Mr. Kane's meeting times before speaking again. “He’s no longer on his business meeting, you can go.”

Harper gave her a big smile and returned to her paint ball magazines. She had always been reading or talking about paint guns and protective gear of all kinds, for as long as Abby could remember. _Youth today..._

Abby was not that old, she was only in her thirties, but when she saw Harper, Jackson or even her daughter, she got old.

It was by suppressing this unpleasant feeling that she entered Kane's office.

She barely had time to enter when he was already speaking.

“Harper, I would like the report on...”

He looked up and his breath locked in his throat when he saw her. She was more tired than this morning, the dark circles starting to appear under her hazel eyes and her clothes were slightly wrinkled but god she was beautiful.

_Always_ , he thought.

“I disturb?” She had a rather hard and determined tone.

_Typically_ Abby.

He smiled discreetly at the thought and stood up, smoothing his tie.

“Not at all.”

Abby entered and closed the door behind her. He walked past his desk and sat on the edge, squinting, intrigued to find out how would turn this conversation.

“What do I owe the pleasure?”

He insisted on the word _pleasure_ to echo her words of the day before. She smirked and crossed her arms over her chest. He swallowed hard, noticing the shape of her breasts increasing, feeling a shiver run down his back.

“You kissed me.” She declared, blankly.

“You did it first.” He said the same way.

They stood like a wiener dog for a few minutes, then Abby changed her tactics. She walked slowly and sensually, putting her bag on one of the chairs and stopping once she got only a few inches from him.

He had to look up to meet her eyes and a feeling of power invaded Abby as she stared at him. It didn't happen often because of her size, but when it did, she took advantage of it.

“You think you can do whatever you want but you're wrong.”

Kane swallowed but said nothing, so she continued. “I hope you enjoy it, because it will never happen again.”

He stood up, reversing roles and causing Abby to lose the little control she thought she had.

“You think so? I feel like I'm troubling you.”

“Don't be ridiculous.”

She lifted her chin and held back her urges. She was dying to kiss him _again_... to finish what they started this morning. And it was so hard to resist when he was so close to her, looking at her lips while biting his, knowing full well that he was in a position of strength and that, yes, he was troubling her more than anything.

“I thought that... you hated me.”

His voice was softer, lower too, like a whisper.

It was the second time today, after so many years of cold stare and emotionless speech, that he showed a softer, more engaging side. He had nothing of Marcus Kane cold and distant from meetings and Abby melted, literally, facing this aspect of his personality.

“I do...”

She gasped when he stroked her thigh with her fingers, right at the edge of her skirt, barely touching her skin.

“Your body says otherwise.”

He brought his face closer to hers and their noses almost brushed against each other. As if that were not enough, Kane raised his hand, passing it under her skirt and lifting it in the process.

A tingling went through Abby's entire leg and went up along her body. She knew what would happen if she did nothing.

“Kane...”

“Shhh...”

He brushed her cheek with his lips and came to whisper in her ear, with his suave voice. “You are the one who started, let me finish.”

He murmured these last words while sliding his push towards her crotch, stroking her thigh more frankly and feeling her panties wet by her desire.

_The desire she has for you_ , he thought.

He pressed his thumb on the fabric and stroked her as he had imagined countless times.

Abby had no choice but to close her eyes and sigh softly, her desires taking precedence over reason, savoring the expert touch of Marcus Kane on her clitoris.

***

A few miles away, a teenage girl with blond hair and azure blue eyes was waiting for her mother on her grandmother's porch, wondering if for once she would be on time for her hockey training.

Wondering if her mother would remember her...

_For once_ , she begged in silence.

Clarke had hope this morning when her father announced that her mother had signed her exit permit. She had also been surprised. Her mother had paid attention to her life and to what she was doing in class, which was rare, almost miraculous.

And that tiny hope that Clarke cherished began to tear apart every second she spent watching for her arrival, looking up at each car.

“Come home, darling. I know she’ll arrive and you’ll be on time.”

Even if the young teenager wanted to listen to her grandmother and believe her, deep down, she knew it was a lie. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily.

“It would be the first time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little one but, the next chapters are coming and... you’re not ready ;)
> 
> I hope you still like this fic 💚
> 
> See you next week kabby fam


	5. Epiphany

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abby begins to understand few things about her feelings.

_Keep doing._

_Keep doing, don't stop._

It had been a mantra in his head since he put his hands on her soft skin.

Marcus caressed Abby and still couldn't believe it.

Her skin was as soft and pleasant as in his dreams if not more, her breath against his cheek sent shivers making his cock stir in his tight suit pants.

_As long as no one interrupted us this time._ He thought.

Since the incident this morning, he cursed the whole world and especially this Jackson. If he hadn't entered Abby's office, he would have had to keep turning the tongue in the mouth of this fabulous woman.

He would have undone her blouse and caress her belly and her forbidden ribs, feel the tingling allowing him to run through the spine which would have slipped his hands behind her back. He would have put access to her bra and her breasts so beautiful and so firm.

_Her breast..._

His thoughts had been haunted by its curves all day, as much as to say that his case files weren’t as full as usual.

And now he grazed her, touched her... caressed her.

_Finally_. He sighed internally. But in fact, his mind was muted, only his body and his impulses responded.

He realized that he was tickling Abigail Griffin's clitoris, through a thong that seemed to be silk to the touch. He didn’t believed Abby Griffin would wear anything else anyway. He understood what he was doing just when the phone in his office started ringing and she pushed him gently, pulling her skirt down on her perfect thighs.

“Kane...”

“Let it ring.”

He kissed her on the neck and slid his other hand behind her back to press her against his body. He heard her let out a delicious moan but that hellish phone rang again and he was pushed back. _Again_...

This time he didn't force things and sighed, exasperated, running a hand through his hair.

He picked up the phone and answered in an annoyed voice. “Yes what? Hmm... hmm... well, perfect I’ll do it.”

Abby had turned her back on him, trying to regain control of her throbbing heart and her incredibly growing urge for Marcus Kane. He looked at her as he chatted on the phone and all he could think about was that he touched her in the most intimidated way that was possible.

_You touched her where only her husband touches her..._

The thought clouded the picture somewhat, his eyes became hard and cold, resuming a stuck attitude. The voice of his receptionist brought him back to earth.

“Harper... Harper I know. I would be on time and Councilor Griffin too. Thank you.”

He hung up and approached her gently, not wanting to scare her and especially not wanting her to run away, literally sliding between his fingers. But that's exactly what happened.

She turned the doorknob and left as quickly as possible, leaved him breathless in his austere and soulless office.

_You've gone too far, idiot._

***

Abby got into her car, realizing that she had been holding her breath since she had passed the door of that tempting office. She then took a deep breath and dropped her forehead against the steering wheel.

_What were you thinking?_

It all became ridiculous. All this sudden attraction for Kane was insane and unforgivable.

One kiss. Two kiss. Caresses... How was it supposed to end?

_Badly._

Of all the movies she had seen, of all the books, the poems, the news... The stories of adultery always end badly. Either for the unfaithful person, or for the deceived person, or for the lover.

Her phone rang and turn on in her cup holder. She sighed and looked at the message before panicking.

**From: Clarke**

**Where are you mom? If you didn't want to bring me, you had to say it earlier... I would have asked Dad.**

_No..._

Abby looked at the clock and her heart turned. It was 5:33 p.m. and Clarke was still not to her training originally planned at 5:30 p.m., which meant in uniform and on the field for three minutes ago.

“Shit!”

She drove as fast as possible, barely avoiding an accident with a motorbike and a pileup with another car before she could finally park roughly in the driveway, in front of her mother's house.

Clarke wasn’t on the porch as expected. Abby sighed knowing full well what she had to do: She was going to have to come in to look for her daughter and therefore confront her mother.

_Awesome._ She thought.

Abby turned off the engine and entered her childhood home, trying not to make too much noise. If she could pick her daughter up quickly and discreetly, that would be perfect.

Unfortunately, Jean didn’t give her the chance to escape her. Her and her sermon.

“We've been waiting for you for over twenty minutes, Abigail Walters.”

Abby sighed and entered the living room with double doors in solid wood, decorated in the old style, wood and brick everywhere, the fireplace predominant over the rest of the pale cream furniture.

“It's Abby and my name is Griffin for over 15 years, mom.”

As she pronounced her husband's name, a touch of shame and guilt stung Abby's heart. _What a bitch she was._

“Do not start. Instead, explain to your daughter why she's going to be late for her hockey training again.”

Jean pointed to a disappointed Clarke, head down, looking at her fingers on the small seat in the room. Abby clenched her jaw and glared at her mother before approaching her blond head.

“Clarke... honey.”

She put her hand on hers but the young teenager removed them and got up.

“Let's go.”

She didn't let Abby argue and left the house, making her sigh as she watched her leave sadly.

“It's unacceptable as a mother, Abigail.”

Abby turned red.

“Do you really want to get into this discussion now?”

“What does that mean? I have always been a good mother for you.”

Abby sneered and headed for the exit.

“We're not going to argue now, I don't have time.”

“What were you doing to forget your daughter?”

Abby stopped in front of the front door, Jean in her steps. She turned to her mother and swallowed, preparing to lie.

_Again..._

“I had a patient.”

“Of course. You are your father's daughter, there is no doubt.”

“Dad was a good man. I will be honored to become at least half of what it was.

Jean smirked and her piercing gaze probed her daughter's eyes.

“If only you saw everything I did, everything I sacrificed for you.”

Abby raised her hands and stepped back before opening the door.

“Fine. This discussion is over.”

“For now, Abigail.”

Abby shook her head and joined Clarke in the car. She had put her earphones in her ears and looked out of the window with her face closed with sadness and anger.

_You screwed up, Abby._

She left the stone driveway of her mother's house and set off for the skating rink. Clarke remained silent and in her bubble and the more the road went by, the more Abby felt the anger rising. An illegitimate anger of course, because it was her who was at fault here but it was uncontrollable, much stronger than her and her will.

She stopped the car on the side and pulled on her daughter's headphones.

“Now that's enough!”

“What’s your problem?”

Clarke looked at her with the same determined look that her mother sent her.

“My problem? I hope you’re kidding me!”

“You arrived twenty minutes late and I will have to do strength training in punishment because of you! I hate you.”

Abby swallowed at her daughter's harsh words and did her best to hide the wound in her heart. Her gaze softened and she looked at her sadly.

“Why aren’t you talking to me? I could...

“What could you do? Pay attention to me for once?”

Clarke looked in front of her, crossing her arms.

“Sweetheart...”

“ I’ll be even more late than I already am. You can drive please.”

Abby looked down and held back her tears, vowing to let her out later, when no one would see her collapse.

_“Never cry in front of others, Abigail. It’s a sign of weakness and weakness cannot be forgiven in this unforgiving world.”_

Jean Walters' words once again resonated in Abby's mind as if whatever she did, whatever she thought, her mother was there to put her back on the right track, or at least on the path that _she_ felt right for her single daughter.

Abby had never cried in public, neither in front of her friends, nor Callie, nor even Jake, her husband for 15 years.

The young doctor hit the road again, putting her painful feelings aside and dropping-off her daughter at her training more than a quarter of an hour late.

“Dad will pick you up.”

“Yeah, right.”

As soon as the car stopped, Clarke got out without even another word.

Abby went back to the town hall and stopped almost 5 minutes later to cry, alone, in her car, in the middle of the woods.

***

Marcus paced the meeting room thinking about the situation. He needed a game plan. All his life he had planned the slightest choice that was going on, in his work but also in his private life.

His father's hasty and uncontrollable departure when he was young had taught him to plan and follow it to the letter to avoid being caught off-guard and suffering again.

If he wanted to seduce Abby, he needed a solid plan and stick to it until she was in his bed.

The thought disgusted him.

Since when did he want to just sleep with a woman without even taking into account her situation. And she wasn't just a woman... it was Abby and she was married and happily married.

_So why did she kiss you? Was she really happy?_

All of this only made it even more confusing between her desires and his own as well as their respective needs and morals.

All his thoughts flew away as she walked through the tinted glass doors to the meeting room. He stopped walking and looked at her curious to know what she was thinking. Sadness was anything but what he expected to read about it.

Abby had a handkerchief in her hand and despite her desperate attempts to hide, the red marks under her eyes indicated that she had been crying. She barely looked at him, looking away from his eyes almost as soon as she crossed them.

“Abby...”

He walked over to her but she stepped back to put distance between them. She couldn't manage their proximity yet.

“No stop.”

“We need to talk.”

She looked at him again and for the third time in her life only, she saw something else other than pretension and contempt in Kane's eyes. He seemed... _worried_.

“We have to stop...”

_What? What had they started exactly? Flirting? It was more than that after the caresses made earlier... An adventure?_ A wave of nausea took hold of Abby at the thought of this word. Marcus must have read it on his face or in her gesture because he cleared his throat and pulled back.

“I thought that was what you wanted. You started...”

“I was drunk!”

He looked at her surprised and shocked and Abby understood that she had bless him. _So that was what Kane's face looked like when he was injured?!_

“Very good. Perfect.”

The cold and irascible Marcus Kane resurfaced and Abby's heart sank without really knowing why she was reacting as if this unbearable man was someone important to her. Until that kiss in this bar, it was just Kane the unbearable. Since the kiss in this bar, he had become Kane, the mysterious advisor she dreamed of riding every time he laid eyes on her.

_Would she be able to admit all of this to him or would she keep it to herself and continue to live her quiet little life?_

The future would tell her soon enough. For now, Thelonious and his new associate partner were entering and the meeting was starting quickly, forcing Abby and Marcus to end their conversation on... a lie.

***

“You have no rights.”

“Of course I do. I am the protection supervisor of this hospital and as Thelonious has said so well, the doctors and nurses do not take enough account of the security protocol.

“You're doing this to piss me off, Kane!”

Thelonious pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. They took the lead for a story of transparency with patients and the locking up of certain drugs.

But counselors were used to that kind of things. Abby and Kane always found a point of contention and clung to it fiercely until one was released. What never happened and Thelonious had to interrupt them each time, at _each_ meeting.

“Fine, stop. Abby, did you have a report to present to me?”

Thelonious reached out to Abby calmly but Kane continued.

“Risky drugs should be locked up and you know it.”

“If you continue, I swear...”

Thelonious tapped the table sharply and the two hard fighters stopped before looking at him.

“Good. Can I have this folder and attention at the same time?”

Abby handed him the file on her recurring and worrying patients and looked at Kane again, ready to fight physically if it became necessary.

_That, that was normal._ This was what was happening all the time and Abby found some comfort in it from recent events. It was a banal meeting, without any flirting, without kissing, without touching... Just an ordinary meeting, Kane staring at her and smiling in the most execrable way possible to get her out of her hinges and Abby purposely answering him each time.

While they were staring into each other's eyes, Abby couldn't help but think of the sharks she had watched spinning in the living room screen most of the night. _“The blue sharks are biting each other in a romantic way.”_ What if this is what she and Kane have been doing for so many years? Were they raising the tension, biting themselves with bloody arguments and accusations until one day the tension was unbreathable and causing each of them to fall into the arms of the other? Was that why Abby captured the lips of his biggest rival?

Her thoughts and all her questions had taken her so far that she didn't notice the end of the meeting until everyone got up. She also got up trying to get back to reality and noticed Kane coming out.

She wanted to speak to him immediately. They have to discuss.

Abby left the room and stepped forward to catch him, but another female hand slid on Kane's biceps. The young doctor was nailed to the spot by surprise and amazement: Callie was able to outmanoeuvre Abby and even if the gesture had been quick it was also more than familiar for only two colleagues.

And suddenly Abby understood what was going on. Why Callie threw a fit last night, why she got mad at her for no apparent reason.

_Callie Cartwig and Marcus Kane had a secret affair._

Everything was so clear now... Callie had caught her lover in the arms of her best friend. All the anger that Abby might feel towards her for accusing her of adultery without even arguing flew away and sadness took over. Why didn't she tell her about it?

You know why ...

Of course. If Callie had come to Abby to tell her that she was dating this jackass that’s Marcus Kane, she would have lectured her on what was good for her and on the fact that he wasn’t the man for her. Just like her mother does with the people around her...

_You get worse than she is and yet you hate her._

Abby gulped at the thought and decided to break the embarrassment between her and her best friend, advancing towards them gently.

“Callie... can we talk please?”

She spoke as softly as possible and Callie shall see her sadness in her eyes since her features soften gradually.

“Of course.” She smiled softly and turned to Marcus. “What time tomorrow night?”

“The ball starts at 7:30 p.m. so quarter?!”

“Perfect.”

She smiled and Kane left them with a last look at a more than confused Abby. _Tomorrow evening_... the ball. Callie would go with Kane to the spring ball.

“You wanted to talk to me? Abby?”

The young woman blinked and looked at her friend.

“Sorry... yes, uh... Are you really going to the ball with him?”

Abby noticed the way Callie clenched her jaw and tensed her muscles.

“Yes what is the problem? You go with your husband.”

“No problem... no really none. It's just...”

Callie cut her off:

“Good. Because you can't have them all.”

Abby opened her mouth to reply, but Callie stepped back and left before.

She seemed in a hurry to finish this conversation and the young doctor could understand. Instead of apologizing for her behavior, she judged her again.

If she wanted to go to the ball with Kane, fine. Why would it bother her? Abby would be there with Jake and it would be one of the most boring parties of her life. Why would she want Kane to go alone? Was she.... no impossible.

_You are jealous._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!!!! I hope you still like this story, I can’t wait for you to discover the next chapters ;)
> 
> See ya and stay safe!


	6. The prom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The spring fling is here. How will Kane and Abby survive to this?

“Marcus, darling, let me help you.”

“No. I should know how to tie a fucking bow tie at 35 years old.”

Marcus had been trying to tie his bow tie for almost twenty minutes and the result was not very convincing. It must be said that nervousness didn’t help.

His hands were trembling with apprehension and the heat was unbearable under this shirt and this suit jacket when the evening had not even started yet.

“Marcus...”

“Mom, please. I”m no longer a kid.”

Vera got up from her son's childhood bed and came over to him before placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“You’re no longer a child but you are my son. Let me do it.”

She spoke to him so calmly that Marcus relaxed a little. He had a hard time with this kind of stuck-up party. He hated the crowd, let alone the glamorous crowd that reminding him that he would never be part of this world. His suit was a rental and he would use his company car so Callie wouldn’t feel sorry for him when he went to pick up her with his little blue three-door car...

“I don't like these parties...”

“I know darling. But you do it to save face.”

Marcus sighed and looked at his mother's work. He wondered then how she knew how to tie the knots so easily then the picture of a younger Vera making the bow tie to her husband brought back the bitterness in his mouth. He clenched his jaw and Vera looked at him sadly, knowing instinctively what her son was thinking.

“You’re beautiful.”

He smiled gently at his mother, the only one entitled to this precious smile.

“Thanks Mom.”

Vera patted his shoulders of his suit and stepped aside.

“Come on, it's time to go. Will you come share what happened to me tomorrow night?”

“Of course.”

He kissed her on the cheek and left the house of his childhood with a sigh.Almost every evening, Marcus came to his mother's house to tell her about his day or just to make sure she was fine.

This Saturday evening, he came with his costume so she can helps him prepare as they did every year. Preparing to smile at people they didn't like or that they just didn't know, preparing to dance when he hated it, preparing to reach a woman's arm when he did wanted another, an inaccessible woman, because of her rank in society, her character and her marriage.

_This evening would be long..._

***

Abby was putting on her long black dress as Jake got ready in their bathroom. She still had no desire to go, let alone now that she knew Kane would be there with her best friend.

_You have to stop!_

She sighed and pulled up her cleavage before looking at herself in the mirror of their dressing room. She had tried several outfits to drag things out but also because she couldn't find the outfit that made her beautiful and sexy. Her reflection sent back a beautiful slim and muscular woman and curves well molded by the dress she had finally chosen.

_This one is perfect._

“My love, are you ready? We really have to go.”

Abby turned to face her husband and smiled instinctively. Admittedly, all her emotions were vague at the moment but Jake remained a very handsome man in a suit.

“You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you... but it's you that everyone is going to watch. You look amazing.”

He approached and wrapped his arms around her small waist, placing a kiss on her forehead. He smiled and stroked her bare back with his thumbs, sending shivers down Abby's body.

“We leave Clarke to your mother and we go.”

“Yeah...”

Abby had no desire to go to this ball, not even let her mother takes care of her daughter after yesterday's incident. Jake felt the discomfort of his wife and caressed her cheek, stepping back a little so that she could look up and look at him.

“I'm sorry for forcing you to come. It's just... Thelonious insisted. He wants me to meet Mr. Shumway. It’s important you understand?”

Abby's neurons started to run at full speed and scraps from last night's meeting came back to her slowly, trying to focus on what Thelonious had said as she stared at Kane.

“Shumway? Like the Shumway business?”

“Yes, it seems.l

Abby sneered and pulled away from her husband before leaving to sit on the small bench to put on her high heels. She had just understood why she and her husband had been invited to this stupid event. Lobbying, of course. Thelonious would never change.

“What?”

Jake looked really confused. Thelonious hadn’t yet told him what he intended to do with this Shumway but Abby felt the blow coming.

“Shumway is Jaha's new partner.”

“What do you mean?”

“He was at the meeting with him last night. He's the CEO of Shumway GPL. They are going to make fuel for the city of Arkadia and Polis. This is Jaha's big project to put the city back on the right track, financially speaking.”

_How did you remember that?_

“And why would he need me?” Abby shrugged and Jake continued. “It doesn't make sense, I'm just an environmental engineer for the town hall of Polis. Did he say nothing more at the meeting?”

“Maybe, but I... I was not very focused.”

Abby swallowed and stood up before grabbing her small purse, trying to hide her nervousness. She would have known exactly what to tell him if she hadn't been distracted by deep chocolate eyes.

“Abby... what's up?”

Jake gently took her hand and pulled it to him before stroking his cheek, prompting her to look at him as he had done just before. Abby was forced to look at him for a moment but looked away before he could see the guilt flicker there.

“Nothing... I was distracted last night.”

“By what? Something’s wrong?”

_Find something! Whatever it is!_

“Abby...”

“Clarke. Clarke is wrong.”

_You could have found better..._

“What do you mean, Clarke?”

“She doesn't want to talk to me. I try to be a good mother Jake, I try but I... She doesn't want to talk to me.”

“Maybe it's because you're a little too hard on her.”

Abby stepped back and looked at him, clenching her jaw. She had found an excuse so he can’t realize she had screwed up and it backfired. The Clarke subject was definitely not the best.

_You really could have found better!_

“I'm tough because someone has to be tough.”

“Abby...”

“Let's go. I don't want to keep Thelonious waiting.”

The young woman left their conjugal room and went down to find her mother and daughter, brought up by the words of her husband and by this trapper disguised as a party.

“We won't be back too late. You put Clarke to bed before half past ten please.”

“What?”

Clarke got up from the couch and walked over to her mother, annoyed by what she had just said and more than ready to debate it.

“I want you to go to bed before half past ten.”

“But mom I’m 14 years old now! Please.”

“Tomorrow morning you’ve got a game at nine o'clock, am I wrong?”

“But...”

“No buts.”

Clarke clenched her teeth and glared at her mother before tapping her feet as she left to sit on the sofa. Abby sighed and looked at Jean, challenging her to protest by raising her chin.

“Half past ten mom.”

“Fine.”

Jake went down in turn and smiled at his mother-in-law, running his hand through his wife's lower back. Abby made him withdraw his hand and walked away from them to go into the hall.

“Thank you, Jean.”

“That’s nothing.”

Jean gave his son-in-law a superb smile and Abby rolled her eyes. They left their homes and went for this ball. As they drove towards the place that Thelonious had rented for this evening, Jake tried several times to put his hand on Abby's thigh, to take her hand or to stroke her cheek but each time his wife made it clear to him, making him understand that he had gone too far in criticizing her way of being with their daughter.

_What a wonderful start to the evening..._

***

The villa was sublime, the lights highlighted this beautiful building that Thelonious had chosen and the music slipped softly in their ears, inviting them to have fun and drink liters of expensive champagne.

The interior was as beautiful as you would imagine from the outside. The floor was white marble and the walls adorned with moldings and woodwork, each more beautiful than the other. It was really a perfect place.

_It might not be so terrible._

That's what Marcus thought before he saw the Griffins entering the villa, arm in arm. Jake wore a very nice dark blue suit, gold cufflinks if you paid attention to it and a radiant smile.

Marcus gulped, remembering that he was going to compete with him... how could he deal with so much class?

He turned his eyes to the woman next to him and his breath stopped. Abby was stunning, breathtaking, literally, so beautiful and sexy that Kane's whole body caught fire, sending a delicious shiver all over his body right down to his pants. She had a beautiful necklace around her delicate neck, her hair was pulled up in a sophisticated hairstyle leaving her neckline more plunging than expected but still remaining as refined, long legs which was paradoxical for her size and... she was smiling.

Something was wrong with that smile though. Marcus frowned, concentrating on trying to spot what was pushing Abby to offer that stiff smile to the other guests.

“Are you ok?”

Callie pulled him out of his trance and looked at him confused. Kane cleared his throat before turning his back on Jake and the fabulous woman he was holding near him.

“Excuse me. Yes.”

“She is beautiful...”

“Who?”

“Don't be a jerk, Marcus. I saw how you look at her.”

Kane sighed and looked at her seriously as Callie smirked.

“Wouldn't you rather go get us glasses?”

“Of course, let's avoid the subject and pretend that you don't want it.”

“A glass of rum would be nice.” Kane persisted in ignoring her remarks and Callie sneered before replying. “They only have champagne.”

Marcus sighed again and tugged a little on his bow tie, realizing how much his body had increased in temperature since Abby entered. Callie laughed when she saw him do it and put her hand on his forearm so that he stopped.

“I'll get you a glass of champagne before you get undressed. At least that way people will think you are doing it because you are drunk.”

“Very funny.”

He pursed his lips but smiled little by little and Callie did the same before leaving him to go get their cups.

***

Abby stuck a fake smile on her lips and walked over to Jake, making big smiles at each person without wanting to. All this was completely ridiculous and unbearable for her, but it was convenience...

_Screw the etiquettes. She thought._

And as if it was not already painful enough, as they entered the villa, Jaha came to welcome them, his smile, far too extravagant to be true, arched on his hypocritical mouth.

_Great... It couldn't be worse._

“Jake, Abby, you came!”

“We didn't really have a choice, it seems to me?!”

Abby smirked, sincerely this time because she knew that this little arrow would touch Jake. Besides, he shook her hand to make her understand that it was inappropriate. The young woman smiled again and scanned the room, looking at the faces, trying to see if she would recognize someone before it all ended.

This is where she saw him, at the top of the entrance stairs, leaning on the metal railings. He was handsome in his black suit and his black bow tie...

_God, would this man ever wear anything but black? Nonetheless, it was his color._

His hair was looser than usual and a small perfectly curl fell slightly on his forehead, softening his hard features.

_He is stunning..._

Abby smiled frankly and felt her heart beat faster and her whole body react to the mere sight of Marcus Kane in an evening suit.

“Sweetheart?”

Jake squeezed her arm and Abby blinked, focusing again on the two men in front of her.

“Sorry, you were saying?”

Thelonious replied instead. “I'll borrow your husband for a moment.”

“Oh...”

Abby felt the annoyance build up for a few seconds and then understood that she could greet Kane much more easily without Jake near her. She was starting to think like a woman who was really cheating on her husband and although it made her sick when she thought about it, adrenaline took over her guilt.

“I can come back to you later, Thelonious. Abby and I...”

“No. No, go ahead. I’ll be ok.”

She nodded and forced her lips to smile so Jake wouldn't suspect anything. She even kissed him on the cheek to show him that everything was going really well. Jake nodded and left her, walking away with this snake that was Jaha.

Abby waited until her husband was too busy with Jaha and Shumway.

_Was his lobbying started right away, before he even offered them a drink? What nerve._

She chased these dithering from her mind and looked up at Kane's figure. He was still there and apparently as annoyed with the evening as she was. She smiled softly when she saw him trying to put his unruly strand of hair back in place and started to climb the stairs.

Then a woman approached him and Abby stopped before she even reached the second step.

_Callie..._

_Of course... How could she have forgotten Callie?_

Marcus had come with her, her best friend, the one and only Callie Cartwig. _How complicated this situation was..._

“Griffin. Do you go up or stay in the lower rank for once?”

_Oh no... no please everything except that._

Diana Sidney had just passed her on the stairs and didn’t think it was a good idea to not talk with her. Again, the forced smile appeared on Abby's face. By dint of, she would hurt her cheeks.

Diana had been the mayor of Arkadia just before Thelonious. An unbearable and so deceitful woman that Abby always did everything to avoid her and her tricks. Apparently, she hadn't paid enough attention this evening.

“Diana. It has been a long time.”

“Well, you avoid me so yeah. Where's Jake?”

She scanned the room and before Abby could answer, Diana continued. “I knew that he and Thelonious were going to work with Shumway for the construction of the LPG plant.”

“What?”

“Yes, it's a great project. I thought... I thought you knew it.”

Diana's smug face made Abby's blood boil more than the mere news that her husband would work with this man. The young doctor looked at the blonde, confused.

“How do you know all this?”

“Oh, please. No one has any secrets from me.” And so Abby's nightmare started while Diana continued in the same disdainful tone. “He's beautiful isn't he?”

Abby's heart missed a beat and her cheeks turned red peony. Her voice cracked slightly as she asked. “Who?”

Diana still smirked enough and glanced over them, forcing Abby to do the same. Marcus laughed with Callie and even if she had trouble admitting it, it was very painful to see them having so much fun together.

Diana looked at her again and approached a little before whispering to her. “Looks don't lie.”

Abby gulped and Diana left her, swaying almost vulgarly, proud to have spread panic once again in her path.

_How could you get caught like this? You’re a doctor! You're smarter than that, damn it!_

***

She curses herself inside until Jake comes back to her a few minutes later. When they finally had a drink, Abby still couldn't understand what it had taken her to look at Kane like that.

The day before, they were still calling them every dirty names at the meeting and tonight she was having fun guessing what he looked like under this superb suit molding his buttocks.

_The day before he also touched you..._

She shook her head and closed her eyes to chase away the memory she had of the sensation that his fingers inside her had revealed.

_God, what would she give so he dit it again..._

“Abby? Is everything alright?”

Jake made her let go of her lower lip that she must have bitten without noticing it while she fantasized about Marcus Kane's fingering. She looked at her husband, confused.

“Yes... excuse me. I... Are we dancing?”

She must have found another distraction and dancing seemed to be the solution. Jake frowned but nodded, taking the hand she presented to him. They barely had time to take two steps in the center of the room when Thelonious came back to them. Abby sighed and let him take her husband again.

_Great party Abby..._

With that, she went back to the bar and ordered something stronger than champagne. A martini would do the trick to calm her low mood.

As she waited for her glass, she felt the body of a person brushing against her back. He was a man... Not just any man.

Her heart raced when she detected the woody scent and her hoarse voice reached her ear in an almost inaudible whisper.

“You’re stunning tonight, Doctor Griffin.”

She stood back to him and let her lips stretch slowly in a radiant smile, trying to do everything to calm the heat that accumulated between her thighs. Knowing that he found her beautiful, no, _stunning_ , brought her back to a teenage state disturbed by the opposite sex.

Abby entered his game and replied in a low and buzzing voice, her way of being sexy. And god he thought she was sexy when he heard it.

“Counselor...”

Marcus moved to be next to her and ordered his rum before looking at her, eyes bright with mischief. He looked calmer, less harsh than when he was working, but still tense. Abby assumed he didn't really like this kind of party.

_That’s make two of us._ She thought.

The bartender served Marcus the order and he took it before facing Abby. She smiles at him and he smiles back, their eyes inked together.

A burst of sincerity forced him to formulate his next sentence without even being really aware of it.

“You’re also beautiful.”

Marcus smiled more gently and put his hand out on the counter, brushing Abby's forearm with his index finger. He had wanted to touch her since she left him alone in his office. She parted her mouth and closed her eyes to savor the tingling that crossed her, feeling her cheeks heat up.

“Can we talk? Just you and I.”

It was almost an inaudible whisper that he let float close to her ear. Abby opened her eyes again and tried to decrypt his gaze. _He wanted more than talk._

_You too, right?_

She drank her martini a little, trying to cool herself down at the thought, losing the physical contact, however small, that she had with him. Strangely, the feeling of lack appeared when she realized it.

“Callie must be waiting for you.”

Jealousy prevailed and her tone was harsher than she had imagined. He smiled and watched her drink again, biting his lip, imagining him instead of the little olive she was pushing with her tongue.

She put the glass down and put her arm back so that he touched her again. Her voice cracked slightly because of that. His skin against hers disturbed him.

“Callie isn't expecting me.”

He saw the way her eyes lit up at her statement and approached her, smelling her scent tickling his nostrils.

The tension between them increased and Abby looked around the room. She found Jake in the company of two strangers and Diana. Kane followed the direction of her eyes and tensed slightly, taking a step back and away from her. He didn't want to leave her, but maybe she had other desires.

“I'll let you go back to your husband...”

He looked dejected and walked away again, ready to go, to save her from troubles but she grabbed his hand and looked at him almost begging. He frowned, confused but came back to her.

Abby felt her whole body push her against his and put a light pressure with her thumb on the back of his hand, praying that he would understand without her having to say it.

_And he did._

Kane knew her gaze, that carnal and primitive need he saw in the eyes of this superb woman. He knew exactly what she wanted and let's be honest, he wanted it too.

“Abby...”

“Don't push me to say it.”

She felt his hand tighten around hers and for a short moment she hesitated.

_Is this really what you want?_

He cut short the flow of questions forming in her brain and drew his hand gently.

“Come here.”

He quickly led her to a remote corner of the villa, striding along the long and large corridors, eager to finally be able to put his hands on her again.

Abby obediently followed. For the first time since they had known each other, she let him direct her without flinching, without insulting him, without trying to regain control.

The farther they got away from the music, the more their heartbeats echoed in their ears, like a drum warning them that what they were about to do would be a turning point in their respective lives.

Abby was walking without thinking about the consequences. She only obeyed the heat that his contact had spread throughout her body, her doubts and guilt forgotten at the bar.

Kane, squeezed his hand delicately but forcefully, as if he was holding a fragile little bird and if he released the pressure, the bird would fly away.

He opened several doors in their path before finally finding a room with a large canopy bed.

_Cliché but... perfect._

Kane pulled her inside and let go of her hand before closing the door behind them and turning the latch. By the time he turned to her, he expected to be entitled to "No, I can't." "Or" I'm sorry, but it's not possible.” Instead, Abby was facing him, her dress pulled up over one of her legs, her lower lip wedged between her teeth.

_She’s ready for what’s coming next._

He remained frozen by the beauty and the assurance that she gave off, smiling little by little as she advanced towards him like a feline towards her prey.

He swallowed hard when she slid a hand on his chest, caressing the fabric of his shirt, breath as short as his. He closed his eyes and felt her other hand rest gently on his cheek before coming to caress his lips with her thumb. He almost jumped when she whispered. “What are you waiting for, Kane?”

She brought her attention back to his bow tie and slowly undid it. He opened his eyes and smirked before taking her wrists and rotating her so that her back was against his powerful chest. She wouldn't have the upper hand any longer.

Abby gasped a bit then let herself go against his solid body. Marcus pulled his long dress up so he could slip his hand between her legs.

Abby's gasp accelerated, apprehending the rest of his movements.

When he knew he was in the right place, he placed a kiss under her earlobe and pressed her clitoris.

Abby squeaked in response and pushed her bottom against him and his erection almost mechanically, as if she had been doing this all her life.

It was there that she realized how much he wanted her...

_God, he was hard._

“You like that I think...” He whispered against her ear and pressed his thumb again on her small sensitive spot, giving a strangled sneer from Abby. “Please... we don't have much time.”

Kane wanted to make her languish as much as possible, as if to show her what torture she had inflicted on him when she ran away the day before. But she was right. Abby was always right and he admitted they didn't have time.

_Not this time, at least._

The thought made him smile and he removed his fingers from her privacy before letting her turn to face him again.

The young woman gave him no respite and pressed her lips against his, drawing an animal growl from his throat. She tangled her fine fingers in his beautiful black hair and he stuck his tongue in her mouth. The moan she let loose in his mouth was greeted as encouragement by Kane and he ran his hands behind her back, pushing her against him, his hard cock now throbbing against her lower abdomen.

Abby smiled against his lips when she felt it and lowered her hands, running down his neck and then his chest until she reached the waistband of his pants. Marcus smiled too and let go of his lips to look at her, amused. His smile widened and laughter gained him.

_Abby Griffin was undressing him and he couldn't stay serious because it was all so unreal._

“Do you find that funny?” It was supposed to be a reprimand but Abby smiled so much that it was cuter than anything else so he dared to answer.

“A little yes. You’re so impatient.”

He had the right to her raised eyebrow and her determined look and for the first time, it wasn’t for bad reasons.

Abby finished taking off his pants quickly, not paying attention to Kane's tender air and slipped a hand into his pants before he knew it.

“Fuck, Abby!”

She bit her lip and stroked him, assessing his length and width and realizing that he was really well fitted.

Marcus blushed a little and turned his eyes away from hers, but she put her free hand on his cheek to encourage him to look at her.

“Look at me...”

And he did. He looked at her intensely as she caressed his hard and powerful cock from top to bottom, pushing him almost to deliverance.

But he wanted more. He wanted to be in her when he lost control and she knew it.

She let go of him and captured his lips with hers for a second languid kiss. Kane pushed her over to the bed before knocking them over. Their mouths separated for the time of impact with the mattress but they attracted themselves again like two magnets again polarized which could no longer detach.

Marcus straightened up and hurriedly dropped his pants and underpants to the floor. He then lay down pressing his weight everywhere except on her and quickly pulled her thong on her thighs. Abby laughed softly and caressed his cheeks, kissing him on the neck and whispering against his soft skin.

“And then I'm impatient?” He smiled and put the fine fabric in his jacket pocket, which he always wore, before answering her in a hoarse voice.

“I want you so much...”

Abby smiled and bit his jaw in reply. Marcus groaned and fondled the inside of her thigh, languidly moving up towards her crotch. She gasped in apprehension and hugged her arms around his neck to push him against her. So he kissed her shoulder and dragged his tongue into the valley between her breasts, finally realizing this forbidden fantasy.

She ran a hand between them and took his tail in her hand pumping it again. He groaned as before and looked up to make sure they wanted the same thing. Abby nodded silently, the reasonable part of her brain clouded by the desire and excitement of the moment.

“Stop me if it's too much.”

His voice was soft and calm as he placed himself right above her. Abby closed her eyes and felt him enter her, widening her lips so forcefully that a slight cry left her throat. Kane froze and looked at her, worried.

“Abby...”

“No... don't stop.”

She looked at him the same way as at the bar, begging and Kane had no desire to stop so he sank further, biting his lower lip as she slowly got used to his waist.

“You are...”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

_Why was he apologizing?_

Every man would dream of having his body and this part in particular and every woman would appreciate having it between her thighs.

“Don’t apologize...”

She stroked his hair and the perfect little curl fell on his forehead.

Abby smiled deeply and felt strange feelings pouring in. She pushed them back into the muted part of her brain and kissed him tenderly.

Kane gradually accentuated the kiss and moved his hips towards hers. A loud moan escaped from Abby and she tightened her hands over his thick brown locks. She pushed her pelvis to meet him and they raised the tension of their two bodies as high as possible.

Marcus massaged one of her breasts through the dress which he now regretted not having removed, but he solved the problem by pulling his neckline, earning him a little buzz from Abby.

He let go of her lips to take the breast he had released in his mouth, playing with his hard nipple. She arched towards him in response and let out a plaintive moan. She wanted more, faster, stronger. She wanted him to make her come.

“Shhh...”

He breathed against her breast and looked at her as she started to shiver. He put his neckline back on and kissed her on the neck, pushing more.

_Harder, faster, stronger..._

Abby and Kane moved in harmony soon crossed by the most powerful orgasm they had had in a long time, even forever.

Kane slid his mouth over her jaw and nibbled it as he let go in her, followed by an uncontrolled groan. Abby felt her muscles contract around him and let out a shrill cry as the delicious tingling of pleasure went up her spine.

Then Marcus slowly remord himself from her, drawing a strangled breath from Abby, and lay on his back next to her, laughing in ecstasy. Multicolored stars were dancing in front of him and his heart was racing. It was the best part of sex in his whole life.

Abby felt the wave of pent-up emotions rise to the surface and suddenly invade her. _What had she just done?_

Tears flowed silently while the ceiling was still spotted with small bubbles of color, the product of her incredible orgasm.

_What have you done..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, this was one of my fav chapter to write. 
> 
> What did you think about it, I’m dying to know! 
> 
> See ya next week, as always😘


	7. Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tic tac, Abby!

“Oh my god... I see blue butterflies everywhere.”

His laugh echoed in the room suddenly too quiet for Abby's taste. Kane seemed to be in a cloud while her feelings of guilt filled her heart. The pain oppressed her in proportion to the pleasure that had gone through her when Marcus had come into her and god knows how much pleasure had overwhelmed her.

She swallowed hard, feeling the chills coming down her lower back while her crotch was still pulsating after this crazy orgasm.

“Abby?”

She blinked and the tears held in the hollow of her eyelids flowed down her temples. He looked at her, leaning beside her, looking worried. His look, so soft and tender that he offered, twisted her stomach even more and she got up hurriedly.

“Abby, wait!”

_Out of time._

The young woman left the room and Marcus let out a heavy sigh while his mood dropped.

Abby started walking quickly down the hallways looking for a window or balcony, anything that would allow her to breathe pure air.

_Do you deserve purity after what you just did?_

The slap that her conscience put on her was almost worse than if she had received it physically.

_You cheated on your husband. Dirty... you're dirty._

Indeed, she was dirty. Abby realized that Kane's woody scent emanated from every part of her that he had touched or kissed. Worse still, he was in her. Taking the contraceptive pill, there wasn’t the risk of her getting pregnant but she was at risk of infection anyway. She had behaved like an unconscious kid, sleeping with a man without condoms.

_Dirty and fool._

_And you’re a doctor above all..._

Her head was starting to hurt from being scolded and when she felt she could pass out, a slight breeze slid under the skirt of her dress. Although this little air relieved her a little at first, she realized that she was missing something essential.

_Her thong..._

She had forgotten to put it back when she left. A deep sigh left her lungs and tears stuck in the corner of her eyes again.

_How stupid you are!_

“Abby? Is everything alright?”

The woman looked up and pushed her tears away, looking at her best friend, broken and lost.

Callie frowned but said nothing more. She stepped forward and took her friend in her arms.

“It’s ok. Tell me and we'll fix it.”

Abby's voice broke in the middle of the sentence. “Cece... I screwed up.”

Her friend stroked her back and pulled back a little before stroking her cheeks, spreading locks of hair fallen wildly from her bun during her antics with Kane.

“Shhh. Everything's gonna be Alright. I'm here.”

Callie took Abby to the bathroom downstairs and let her rearrange herself. When the young doctor left the small cabin, Callie offered her a tender smile.

“We'll clean your cheeks and everything will be erased.”

A sarcastic sneer left Abby's lips. It wasn’t as simple as that and the two of them knew it well but a little lightness always helped in those moments.

“Will you tell me what happened?”

Abby nodded to the fateful question as she wiped her cheeks with a damp handkerchief. She told her everything down to the very last detail. From Kane showing a softer aspect, to her doubts about her feelings, to her anger towards Jake, to the glass of wine which she had witnessed then caresses in their respective offices until finally this evening where the line had been crossed.

Callie remained silent absorbing all the information and all the contradictory feelings that her friend had gone through so far. Then she stroked Abby's cheek and kissed her forehead before hugging her again, dragging her into a comforting and soft embrace.

Abby's heart gradually calmed down and her breathing resumed a normal rhythm. Her mind stopped swirling for a moment and her morals gave her a break.

“Your thong remained in his jacket pocket?”

Callie was clearly joking and Abby let out a little laugh before stepping back to look at her. The two young women were taken by an uncontrollable laughter and finally, this evening became breathable.

The fact that Callie came to her aid made her understand that there had never been a rivalry between the two women and the relief that Abby felt was so strong that this discussion almost managed to erase all the mess in which she got her.

The best friends left the villa after Callie had warned Jake that she and Abby were leaving. Abby hadn't had the guts to speak to her husband yet, and her friend's unfailing support had allowed her to escape from that evening, unscathed.

They discussed about Kane and this ridiculous situation. Abby promised Cece never to hide anything from her again and Callie assured her that her relationship with Kane wasn’t serious and that it was all over between them since she had seen them in the Moonlight toilets.

The drive to Abby's house had allowed them to flatten everything out and resume their friendship where they left off.

That night, when Jake returned home after an exhausting evening, he found his wife curled up in their big bed, not caring about the torment that was torturing her. Their daughter slept peacefully and his wife too from what he saw so he went to bed, happy, not knowing that the world in which he had lived for 15 years had just crumbled.

***

Two weeks passed and Kane had no news of Abby Griffin. It must be said that he had done everything to avoid her and she had surely had the same idea. For her, it was understandable.

She must have felt terribly guilty and bad about her couple and her marriage. Maybe Jake found out and forbade her to see him again... Maybe they moved as far away from him as possible...

The two possibilities made him dizzy.

His avoidance was explained by the fact that he felt incredibly vulnerable since their unexpected frolic.

Marcus Kane had never felt so much feelings for one person, especially not in one night, and he was scared. He didn’t know how to react to all this new feelings that swirled in his belly such like...

_Don't even dare think about butterflies!_

Yet that was what he felt deep inside. He wouldn't go so far as to think he was in love with her, but something had blossomed in his chest when their two bodies had merged.

Although it was a pleasant and transporting sens, it was new and terrifying for him so he was hiding, doing everything not to have to go to the clinic or the hospital and pretending to be sick at the last meeting.

He hid until Sunday morning.

Thelonious had cornered him by explicitly asking him to come with him for his last auscultation. So he had to drive to the clinic where Abby worked. He couldn't avoid her any longer anyway. However he could delay the deadline and he made several detours eventually annoying Jaha.

When he parked in front of the building his heart was beating again as fast as at the ball.

“Kane? Can I know why you are so strange today?”

Marcus cleared his throat and turned off the car before sighing “I'm not sleeping well at the moment.”

And it wasn’t a lie. Since he had returned to his empty apartment, after sleeping with the woman of his dreams, his nights had been more than hectic and sometimes even torrid. His fantasies mingled with what they had done and it didn't help him at all. That, and the fact that her black lace thong was sleeping in his bedside table.

When he got home that evening, he had mechanically put his hands in his pockets to take his keys and instead of cold metal, the soft fabric had tickled his fingers. When he understood what it was, his cock inflated so quickly that it almost hurt.

Since then, he had washed it after thinking about how to give it back, but had finally decided to keep it. It was only a piece of cloth but for him it was irrefutable proof that all wasn’t the product of his imagination.

***

Abby Griffin lived a real hell in everyday life.

Everything was going well for her family. There were no health problems, Jake seemed happy and the tensions with Clarke had eased somewhat.

Yes, but now, she had tasted ecstasy and she could no longer come down from her cloud.

Abby had slept with Kane and she couldn't get rid of that delightful thrill that ran through her every time a flash resurfaced.

_His kisses, his caresses, his sex inside her..._

Many times she had woken up at night, sweating, excited by the blurry images that her brain ironically sent back to her. She woke up Jake sometimes and one night, she let him make love to her, trying, in vain, to calm her heat.

But of course it hadn't worked and Abby was seriously starting to go crazy.

She then tried to distract herself by taking as more night shifts as possible at the hospital and by filling in as many visits to the clinic as possible. Surprisingly, Kane hadn't tried to contact her and even seemed to avoid her.

Part of her thought it was for the best, that if they saw each other things could degenerate again and it would be even worse but... deep down, which she would’nt admit ever, she was diyong of desire that it could degenerates again.

_Didn't he want the same thing? Why would he not to? Had she been so horrible that he never wanted to be between her thighs again?_

The last question warmed her crotch, thinking about how his size had grown in her, spreading the walls of her sex so hard that it almost hurt.

_Deliciously hurt._

Abby chewed on her pen, clutching her legs under her desk, imagining for the hundredth time what he would do to her if they saw each other again.

_When they meet again..._

A small thud reached her making her drop the tip of her pen and looking at her incomplete file in front of her. She looked up at the door when she realized someone was knocking.

“Come in!”

The young doctor got up at the same time and greeted Thelonious, slightly clenching her jaw.

“Thelonious. Come in and settle.”

Her relations with the mayor hadn’t changed. They had even backed down now that Jake spent all his time working on Jaha's project.

Whatever, Abby was professional and she would treat him like any patient. Fortunately for her, it was Thelonious's last check-up and the young woman couldn’t stop the relief flowing through her veins.

She approached the door and let him getting in before starting to close, but her eyes were caught by iris dark chocolate.

Kane stood there in front of her, only a yard away. He always wore the same work suit, black and his hair had regained its usual discipline. Just like his gaze elsewhere... he had lost the heat that had flickered when he had just kissed her and had become cold again.

_How could this man be the same as the one at the ball?_

“Abby?”

Thelonious's voice brought her back down to earth and she closed the door, swallowing, leaving Kane outside and pushing back the tears that were starting to form.

It was too early for her.

***

Kane waited patiently in the hallway and tried to calm his fervor. Seeing her again, even if he had prepared for it, was much more overwhelming than in all of his scenarios. Yet he would have to recover to forget her and move on.

_You don't want to forget her..._

No, of course not, he never wanted to forget her. He wanted her more than anything and now he knew she wanted him too, well, that had been the case at least once. He had to try one last thing before he could tell himself it was just a one-night mistake.

So when Thelonious left Abby's office, he decided to force fate and confront her.

“I'll join you right away, I need to speak with Abby.”

Jaha sighed. “What has she done yet? Can't just quarrel once and for all and end it for good?”

Kane pinched his lips in response and Jaha left him to go and buy the last necessary drugs present at the clinic.

As he entered, he could watch her for a moment while she was tidying up and cleaning the little examination table. She was beautiful. Her braided hair dropped honey-colored strands onto the birth of her perfect breasts. The slim jeans she wore put all her curves in value and god what will he need so as not to take her by surprise and kiss her everywhere.

_Would she ever stop exciting him?_

He highly doubted it.

Abby looked up at his figure and he could clearly see the uncertainty and confusion reflected in it.

“Kane I...”

“No, don't say anything.”

Abby didn't contest and stayed put, playing with the tip of her white blouse. Marcus stepped forward and began his desperate statement. “Look, I know this is a very complicated situation for you and for me too... but I would like to talk about it with you. I think, no, I'm sure we should talk about it.”

“Kane...”

“Abby please.”

He stepped forward, expecting her to step back but she didn't move an inch, staring at him seriously. She was waiting for the response so he continued. “This evening at the ball... we can't erase it.”

The sigh that left Abby's lungs confirmed that she felt the same way he did and that she was stuck too.

Marcus stepped forward again and could finally smell her perfume reaching him, somewhat blurring the ready-made thoughts and sentences he had repeated over and over in his head. But he wouldn't let go of his impulses this time, and continued in a softer tone. “Abby tell me what you want and I'll do it. If you want to forget then we forget and nothing will ever happen between us again.

The sad look that now reads in her caramel irises forced him to put his hand on her cheek before stroking her cheekbone and the corner of her lips with his thumb. She closed her eyes to skin-to-skin contact and breathed gently.

He wanted to kiss her again and drag her into another passionate embrace but he didn't have to put pressure on her anymore. Abby had to decide for herself what was right for her. So even if it would surely break his heart, he still formulated his last sentence.

“But if you still want me...”

Abby opened her eyes and swallowed before looking at his lips. Marcus continued, slightly disturbed but he had to say everything he had on his heart. “If you want me as much as I want you, please tell me.”

At that, she put her hand on his and looked at him sadly. She was really going to break his heart and although a few seconds ago he was ready to go all the way, fear took hold of him and he prevented her from saying what he knew she was going to say.

“I'll give you time to think about it.”

Surprise and confusion could be seen on Abby's beautiful face and he continued before she protested. “If you ever want me, meet me at my house at six. You know the address, I know it.”

“Kane...”

He took her face and looked at her begging. “Abby please...”

He smiled gently, admiring her for a moment. It might be the last time he could be so close to her so he took the opportunity to detail her wonderful face.

Her almond-shaped eyes, her fabulously long eyelashes, her little round nose that moved when she was angry or passionate about what she said. Her cheeks... her cheeks were blushing.

The embarrassment crept into her because he was looking at her and it was cute. He smiled tenderly and spoke softly. “If you don't come, then I would know it's over. That it was nothing but an unimportant slip. But if you come...”

Abby raised her chin and whispered as she brought her face closer to his, their noses brushing against each other. “If I come...”

Kane smirked and pressed his lips against hers without giving her time to escape.

Abby didn't have time to respond to the kiss he was already tearing his mouth from hers. When she opened her eyes, she had lost physical contact with him and he was no longer in the room.

_He's gone, it's over._

Not if you find him tonight.

The corners of her mouth rose as she ran her fingers over her lips stupidly, as if she could anchor that kiss forever. Her belly flickered stupidly and her eyes were surely sparkling with stars.

However, a ball of pain overturned her belly.

_6 pm..._

_Oh my God no..._

She was supposed to be at her daughter's game at 5:30 pm today and the hockey games were at least an hour or more. How would she be home at eighteen without missing half of Clarke's match?

Abby mentally slapped herself.

Not only did she plan to cheat on her husband again but she also seriously wondered if she would choose her daughter or Kane.

_She would choose Clarke. Always..._

But her heart was crumbling little by little knowing what it involved. Kane wouldn't see her tonight and everything would be over.

***

_Goal!!!_

Clarke was on fire tonight and scoring her second goal of the evening. It was a magical moment and Abby felt her heart swell with pride. She never regretted having chosen her daughter when she saw her smile as she slid towards her partners.

The proud mother applauded her daughter laughing as Jake whistled as loud as possible.

_They were the perfect family..._

Soon, the referees whistled for the end of the third inning and Abby felt regret coming back to her. It was a quarter to seven and she knew very well what it meant.

In the eastern district of Arkadia, building K, apartment 402, a man was waiting for her.

And she hadn't come.

“Mom! Mom, did you saw! We won!”

Abby blinked and opened her arms wide to wrap her daughter in a tight hug, her remorse set aside for a moment longer.

Clarke had already taken off her helmet and skates and buried her face in her mom's shoulder, forgetting about past quarrels. Abby kissed her on the top of her head and stroked her blond hair pulled up into a ponytail.

“I saw, my love. It's thanks to you my princess.”

Clarke smiled and pulled back a little to look at her with eyes sparkling with pride. Abby smiled and stroked her cheeks with her thumbs then Jake approached and Clarke turned to him for a hug. Everything was so _perfect_ at that moment.

But then Clarke went to change and Jake and Abby were both alone.

“Are you OK?”

Abby swallowed and forced a smile, replying. “Yes, I’m fine.”

Jake sighed heavily. “Are you still mad at me for this ridiculous party?!”

“No... well maybe a little bit. Jake you left me alone for most of the evening. How did you think I would react?”

Abby was more disappointed than angry. She wasn’t the only culprit in this story of adultery even if the biggest share of responsibility fell to her.

“I didn't think you'd be sulking for two weeks...”

A twinge of guilt made Abby move towards him to kiss him gently. Jake let himself go and slipped his hands behind her back to hug her. For Abby it was strange to feel almost embarrassed to kiss her husband. They had sex five days ago but at that time, Abby was still half in her dream.

She had missed it, though. She missed her husband terribly.

But she missed another man _too_.

_You both want them._

The truth hit her hard and she let go of Jake's lips brutally.

“Sweetheart? Are you OK? Have I done something wrong?”

Abby stepped back, opening her eyes wide. _How had she managed not to notice?_ The young doctor looked at her husband and smiled tenderly before taking his hands.

“You didn't do anything. I love you Jake.”

Her husband frowned and shook his hands, responding cautiously. “I love you too... but are you sure everything is fine?”

“I have to finish a file and I had completely forgotten about it. Can you take care of Clarke tonight? I probably wouldn't go back to sleep.”

“But... her team won. You promised her a family outing if that was the case.”

“I know, but it's very important.”

Abby offered him a pleading look and kissed his cheek for a long time. Jake had no choice but to nod and let her go.

***

The TV was buzzing in the background as he filled out an important file for Jaha. Anyway, he was trying.

Seven o'clock had arrived and Abby wasn’t there. She hadn't come to his date and his disappointment was much stronger than he had imagined.

He sighed and drank his glass of rum, closing his eyes to spread the bitterness of the drink.

Hope had never been one of his ideologies and he cursed himself for believing in each passing minute for the past eighteen hours.

_How could you believe that she would choose you in front of her perfect husband? You don't even really know her. You slept with her, so what? It was a loss for her, nothing more._

_A distraction._

This is what he was to her. An insignificant error that would disappear as soon as Jake had forgiven him. Because he was going to forgive her. Abby was the kind of woman you followed until death even if she broke your heart.

A tear fell on his file and formed a huge stain of ink when it mixed with his writing. Marcus clenched his jaw and tapped the point on his desk before sending all the papers to the floor.

_Stupid man._

Rage prevailed and he made fly everything from the office, from his pen jar to his rest glasses. The files were mixed with his insurance papers and flyers from ads he hadn't yet thrown away. Some pens rolled under the small sofa, out of his reach and his glasses lost their lens.

_God, what else?!_

As he got kneel down, the bell rang from his apartment. It was probably the deliveryman of his Chinese meal...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you still like my story! Let some comments so I can improve myself.
> 
> Stay safe and see ya next week 😘


	8. Dilemma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title speaks by itself 😇

Kane stood up with a sigh, his glasses broken in his left hand. He was wearing a gray t-shirt and low-rise sweatpants on his hips which revealed a small strip of skin on his lower back. He intended to finish his files by eating and sleeping directly afterwards.

The ringing of the building didn’t really surprised him because he was waiting Chinese dishes to be able to get back to paperwork. It was with this idea in mind that he pressed the button to unlock the building without even asking who showed up.

He picked up his wallet from the papers spread on the floor and headed for the door, looking for money. The bell was not long in coming and he opened it, pulling the cash from the small pocket of his wallet. He reached it out and adjusted his eyes to the person in front of him.

“Good evening, was that-?”

His next words died on his tongue and he gulped, opening wide eyes surprised.

_Abby Griffin._

Abby Griffin was at the door of his apartment.

Marcus blinked and swallowed again as his eyes detailed the beautiful woman in front of him.

She wore a pretty black skinny that embrace her legs so well that he could see her muscles through the fabric. Her chest quickly lifted under her little black tank top and her hair was dropped in perfect curls, cascading on her cream trench coat.

_A goddess._

Or rather a _divine apparition._

Abby put her weight on one foot and bit her cheek, blushing slightly. Marcus understood and nervousness crept into him when he realized that she was detailing him too.

His hair was untidy, the little rebellious curl that made her falling for fell gently before his eyes. His clothes were much less formal, more casual, letting see parts of his body that she hadn’t yet seen well such as a small line of hair leading straight to his masculinity.

_Very very sexy..._

He was different but it wasn’t bad. He looked softer, more endearing, and Abby understood that the most executable part of this man was in fact a trompe l’œil.

He stammered. “You... uh...”

He cleared his throat and ran his free hand through his hair nervously, then looked into her eyes. Abby smiled tenderly and tilted her head to the side, looking at him too, amused.

“Can I come in?”

“Uh yes... yes of course.”

Marcus stepped aside to let her pass and closed behind her. Abby paced the loft curiously, silently inspecting the furniture and decor. She slid her hand over the kitchen counter as if she was checking that it was clean and in good condition. Marcus smiled and shook his head, chuckling.

_This woman._

Not surprisingly, the young woman noticed that the apartment was immaculate, apart from the clearly messy office area.

Marcus was surely the most orderly and maniacal man the earth has ever worn.

Abby smiles at the thought and turns out again before stopping in front of the large picture window to admire the city which was peacefully sinking into the night.

Marcus watched her move and admire without saying anything. He was still in shock. He had given her an appointment for 6 pm and of course there had been the possibility that she came late but seriously, he hadn’t imagined a single second that would be the case.

However, Abby Griffin was there, in his loft, watching the sunset.

Of course she would be late. This woman did what she wanted when she wanted to. As always, she had decided not to listen to him and for the first time, he didn't care. Because it implied that after all, she wanted to be here with him.

_She's there. It's all that matters._

“You have a great view.”

Kane focused on her again and no longer on his thoughts and smiled before coughing a little so as not to let his voice break in the middle of his next sentence:

“Yes it’s... this is one of the reasons why I chose this loft.”

“Mmm... You taste good.”

She tilted her head to the side and her long hair fell behind her back. He wanted to see her face, her look. Was she smiling?

_Turn around. Look at me._

Unfortunately for him, she didn’t answer his silent prayers. But the little sigh she gave eclipsed his disappointment. Then she put her purse on the ground and removed her high heels and trench coat which she hung on one of the chairs on the counter.

_Ok, so she stays at least for a little while._

“Abby...”

“No please, let me speak this time.”

Her voice was low and even if usually he would have taken a malicious pleasure to contradict her, he was silent and waited. Abby finally turned but kept her eyes on the ground, as if she was afraid of meeting his.

“It's my turn to speak.”

He swallowed and fixed his posture by bulging his chest and placing his arms behind his back to show that he was ready to hear what she would tell him, good or bad. Abby made a considerable effort not to look, biting her lip and keeping her eyes down.

_Look at me, I'm begging you..._

“I'm sorry for being late. My daughter had a hockey game and I couldn't miss it.”

Marcus nodded. “Of course, I understand...”

Abby raised her hands to silence him and walked over to him, still without any eye contact. “Please let me say what I have to say.”

“Yes excuse me.”

She was no more than a meter from him, at most, and he could already smell her perfume seeping into his nostrils. He discovered it the evening she kissed him in the moonlight, and since then, his brain had been doing everything to keep it in mind.

Marcus concentrated on trying to describe the mind. Putting words on the sensations allowed him not to forget.

This is how the bewitching scent of Abby Griffin crept into Marcus Kane permanently and indelibly.

The young woman's tempers was perfectly reflected in it.

Soft but sparkling, sensual and warm. The notes of lavender and vanilla distribute the light side that she could hint at when she smiled. This went very well with her more serious, more ferocious inclination that the amber note subtly brought out.

“Kane?”

Marcus looked up at her when he noticed that he had been staring at her little hands for a little while, his brain, detailing the enveloping scent she was wearing.

“Sorry, excuse me.”

“I can come another day if it's not the right time...”

Abby's glance at the papers scattered below and around the desk was explicit. Marcus nodded no and closed the distance between them, taking her hands instinctively.

“No stay.”

Abby looked at their hands, now joined, and moved her fingers very lightly to touch Kane's.

The delicious tingles pass through their bodies instantly and finally Abby looked at him. An intense and warm look, almost disturbed.

It was there. This inexplicable connection that pushed them towards each other since their first kiss...

_Always_. Kane rejected the thought, definitely not prepared for what it might entail.

“I'm not crazy, right?”

Uncertainty could be read in her eyes and he had to reassured her. “If you talk about the thrill that ran through me when I touched you...”

“I felt it too.”

Abby smiled softly and looked down again, blushing slightly. _She was so... this woman was so beautiful._

The setting sun, behind her, projected a pale pink light on her honey hair, activating a luminous halo around her head.

_An angel fallen from the sky..._

“You are so beautiful.”

Abby's smile grew bigger as did her blush that spread to the top of her chest. Marcus also smiled and slipped his hands over her forearms, bringing their bodies a little closer. Their breathing quickened, but Abby's muscles tensed, as if she was suddenly uncomfortable. Kane frowned and tried to detail the expression on her face.

“Abby...”

“We were rather reckless, the last time... Anyway, I'm a doctor. I should have been more responsible.”

The expression on her face was very clear and Marcus stiffened too. She saw him as a dirty man, apparently. A man unable to take care of himself and who slept right to left with anyone.

“That's how you see me. As always, I'm Kane, the ruthless.”

Abby frowned when he let go of her hands, disappointed with the way she saw him. Her gaze on him would never change even after they had started.

_So why had she come so far?_

“Kane...”

“Why are you here, Abby?”

She opened her mouth but closed it again, thinking a little more before stammering. “I... well it's...”

“If you think I can infect you with I don't know what sexually transmitted disease it’s because you don't know me.”

“You’re right. I don’t know you.”

Her raised chin, narrowed eyes and jerky breath made it clear she was ready for a fight. Things never change between him and Abby.

Tired by day, Marcus felt the annoyance growing inside him and he ran through his hair to try to calm down. Abby's eyes burned but at the time, he didn't really understand why this harmless act annoyed him.

“Know that it’s not only for illnesses that I make this remark to you. I could get pregnant.”

Marcus felt his blood cooled in his veins. Of course, there was also this possibility. His face turned livid and Abby surely noticed it because a smirked appeared on the edge of her lips.

Kane's mouth went dry and his voice became hoarse. “You...”

“No idiot, I'm not pregnant. I'm taking the contraceptive pill.”

A breath left the man's lungs and Abby triumphantly looked up. _Was she mocking him?_

He tried a small smile and Abby bit her lower lip, making Kane's dick shudder. The tension had turned into excitement.

Without waiting more, Kane took her face and kissed her savagely. Their tongues curled and the groan that Abby let go against his lips sent a shiver of apprehension down his spine.

_She wants you as much as you want her._

He groaned at the thought and put a hand on her lower back to push her against him. When she felt his erection against her belly, Abby gave the softest of all the shrill cries that Marcus had heard so far.

But this intense moment was quickly broken by the ringing of the apartment.

_The Chinese delivery..._

They parted out of breath and Abby kept her eyes closed for a moment.Marcus took advantage of it for watching her, her hair slightly messy, her mouth swollen after this intense kiss and her purple pink cheeks.

When she opened her eyes again and saw that Kane was staring at her, she smiled shyly and rubbed her arm nervously.

_And now? What do we do?_

This is what the heavy silence that had settled in gradually meant. The ringing building rang again and Marcus cleared his throat.

“Excuse me for a minute.”

“Sure.”

Marcus went to open then waited for the delivery boy to go upstairs to settle and accept the food. To his surprise, Abby came to help him carry the bags to the kitchen.

The young woman laughed a little while looking at the number of bags. Kane opened them and started to look out of the boxes, suspicious.

“What? What makes you laugh?”

“Oh nothing... nothing except that I don't know where you can put it all.”

Marcus felt the pride grow in him and stopped unpacking, advancing towards her gently. Abby took out the boxes, examining their contents, without worrying about Kane's displacement.

“Are you saying I'm slim?”

Abby sneered and as soon as she looked for him, she found him right next to her.

“I didn't say anything like that.”

Marcus stroked her arm with the back of his hand and dropped the strap of her tank top and her bra, letting her bare shoulder. She didn't seem to want him to stop so he cleared her nape of hair and stroked her tanned skin with the tips of his fingers. A breath left Abby's lips and she closed her eyes, finally got up to go to the pleasant feeling.

“Why did you come, Abby?”

His voice was hoarse against her ear and she swallowed hard before whispering her answer. “Because I want you.”

“I didn’t ear it clearly... you what?”

Abby smiled and articulated louder. “Because I want you, Kane.”

He dragged a hand over her hip and down to her thigh. Abby gasped, impatiently waiting for the aftermath.

Kane kissed her on the shoulder and dragged his tongue and mouth to her earlobe, placing wet kisses on her throat.

“Kane...”

“Shhh...”

“The dishes will cool.”

“We'll eat later.”

Marcus nibbled her ear and a groan left his mouth. Abby moaned softly in return and brought a hand through his hair, causing him to continue.

The clothes soon flew into the apartment.

A bra hung on a chair back, a ball tracksuit at the foot of the bed, tangled underwear on important papers spread on the floor.

***

Abby smiled and squealed at each lick that Marcus inflicted on her clitoris. When he lying her on his bed, a pressing desire to taste absolutely her whole body invaded and he had dragged his tongue from her mouth to the inside of her thighs passing obviously through each of her breasts, nibbling and teasing them to make her tremble with pleasure.

The young woman discovered a hidden talent of Marcus Kane and god knows if she liked this gift he had.

“Kane...”

“Mmm...”

Abby laughed in pleasure and shook her hands in Kane's soft hair. Chen he looks up, she lets out a groan of discontent and he looks at her, satisfied. _What a bastard_.

“You have no right to do that...”

She pouted and a strong laugh left Marcus. “You are too cute.”

“Stop laughing and make me tremble again.”

“Oh I intend to do it.”

A sardonic smile crossed his mouth and he entered two fingers into her, sliding perfectly between her folds and causing her to let out a little cry of surprise. “Oh...”

“Mmm... see, I will not leave you hungry. I promise.

Abby could no longer respond as the fingers inside her began to move, first slowly then faster and faster. The orgasm which developed was so powerful that her whole body convulsed with happiness.

He didn’t give her time to recover as he withdrew his fingers and plunged his cock inside her. Abby gasped and Kane groaned before kissing her eagerly. She laughed against his lips and began to moan when he rippled his pelvis against hers.

He was warm and imposing in her, pushing her away just like at the evening at the ball. Exactly how she needed it to feel alive. The movement of his hips against hers pushed her further with each back and forth and pleasure builds up again in her at breakneck speed.

Soon the grunts that Kane made became stronger and above all louder. He was going to come, she knew it and surprisingly, she understood that she was coming too again. When he buried his face in her neck and he stifled his cry against her skin, the feeling of vibration and his pulsating sex in her made her cry too.

At that precise moment, when their two bodies merged, nothing mattered anymore.

***

A few minutes later, they were nestled, spooned, and slowly resumed their breaths. Marcus caressed Abby's upper thigh with a smile and kissed her neck and shoulder tenderly, refining the mental notes of her perfume.

Abby looked at the city lights through the large window, closing her eyes when her put his lips on her to savor the tingling that spread through her nervous system. The guilty part of herself was like being paused allowing her to feel all the necessary relief she had been looking for the past few weeks.

A strand of Kane's brown hair fell on her temple and tickled her. Abby giggled and spread his wick before turning a little towards him.

“What is your secret for having such beautiful and soft hair?”

Kane exploded with laughter and made Abby's body vibrate with his which made her laugh too. She looked at him falsely hurt that he was laughing at her and her question.

“What? Why are you laughing?”

He smiled and raised his hand to her side to brush against her skin with his fingertips. A wonderful thrill developed in Abby with each skin walkway he touches. It was their moment, as they were in a bubble.

Kane's voice was so soft against her temple that Abby really thought they were in another dimension.

“It's a secret.”

Abby laughed softly and said. “You are an idiot.”

“I think that's the word you use most often to describe me.”

Kane kissed her temple one last time and pulled away from her to get up. Abby felt the need butt in her at the second where their bodies were separated. She straightened, the pout appearing on her pretty little lips.

“Where are you going?”

Kane didn’t answer and took some packaging from the kitchen. He came back and handed her one, smiling.

Abby didn't really know why but she suddenly felt uncomfortable. The bubble cracked when he was away.

“I don't want to encroach on your space.”

“She said, naked in my bed.”

“Kane...”

“Abby, for once in your life, don't you just want to do what I ask?”

Abby couldn’t but to put the smirk on her lips. She gave in and accepted the food. They both propped up opposite to each other. His bed was much smaller than the one she shared with Jake.

_Don't compare them!_ She kept repeating that since Marcus’s tongue had tickled her clitoris.

_But it was stronger than her..._

“Why do you keep calling me Kane?”

The question came out of nowhere and Abby blinked, unsure. Marcus took a bite of noodles as if he wasn't worried about the answer. Abby rummaged in her box and thought for a moment before looking at him, confused. “I don’t know. Habit surely.”

“You know my name is Marcus at least?”

The sly smile on his insolent mouth raised the heat between her thighs. She kicked him gently in the calf and shook her head. Marcus laughed loudly and picked up some noodles. The question remained stuck in Abby's mind, however, unable to know why she continued to use his surname.

When she finally decided to dig into her box, Marcus looked at her seriously.

“You can call me Marcus. I hope you know that?”

“Kane please.”

“What? We fucked twice and you still don't want to call me by my first name?”

He seemed offended and it was the last thing she wanted but she had no clear answer for him.

So she put her little box on the bedside table and walked over to him on all fours. Marcus swallowed, either to swallow his bite or because she took his breath away. Abby opted for the second option.

She also took his little box from him and put it next to hers.

“Abby...”

“Shhh... Stop talking.”

They fucked four times that night.

***

A vibrating noise disturbed Abby's sleep and the realization of what she had done that night forced her to open her eyes. The time on Kane's small alarm clock was 6:57.

Kane was snoring lightly on her back and his breath tickled her naked back.

_Naked..._

Abby slowly moved into the bed and slid out to pick up the panties and to put it on. Then she found her jeans and tank top but her bra was nowhere to be found.

The vibrator was heard again and she grabbed her phone from her bag.

The hospital _really_ needed her.

“Mmm...”

Panic made her look up. Kane simply changed position, instinctively taking up all the space in his little bed.

Abby can't help but smile as she watched him sleep. He looked so relaxed, so _peaceful_.

_It's Marcus..._

She was still unable to separate him from Kane, the cold, heartless man, even after that fabulous night. Maybe another time. The thought that there was another time made her smile a little deeper.

Abby detailed him for a moment more then noticed her bra hanging carelessly from Kane's bedside lamp. It wasn’t going to be as easy to disappear on the sly because she knew that if she approached him and woke him up, they were able to do that again.

With wolf steps, she advanced towards the bed and leaned over to take down her underwear. Her eyes fell on him again and guilt pinched her heart.

What would he think when he discovered that she had left without saying goodbye?

_He's not your husband!_ Her conscience rebuked her.

Indeed, he was not her husband. He was not Jake and she owed him nothing.

Abby swallowed hard and pushed away her remorse for Kane. They didn't owed nothing for each other and it hadn't changed.

But if she wanted to continue seeing him occasionally, she had to give him the means to contact so she approached the desk and found a small piece of paper and a pen.

When she came out of the apartment and breath some fresh air, her face lit up with happiness. This night had been fabulous and the guilt she felt, for the moment, was not yet strong enough to erase this peaceful feeling.

***

“You come home late.”

“Ah!”

Abby put her hand over her heart throbbing in surprise and fear. Her daughter was waiting in the entrance room and had surprised her mother as she sneaked inside their house.

“Honey, you scared me.”

Clarke squint and Abby sighed before removing her jacket and placing her purse on the small dresser in the hall. The night had been more exhausting than restful and she needed a shower.

“You didn't keep your promise.”

The girl crossed her arms and looked at her mother, clenching her jaw. Abby slowly approached, the guilt coming back.

“Sweetheart, I'm sorry. I know the three of us wanted to go out with your father, but the hospital needed me.”

“Of course. It's always the same story, mom.”

“Clarke, please try to understand.”

“I understand that you're a coward.”

Abby suppressed the urge to slap her because after all, Clarke was right. She had left the game without even giving an explanation to her daughter simply because she knew that if she had done so, her little blond head would have turned her back on for several weeks, even several months.

“Clarke...”

“Why are you coming back?”

The question surprised Abby a bit and she swallowed before finding an answer. “I... I just want to take a shower.”

“Usually you take it at the hospital.”

Abby's pulse quickened but she managed to keep a relatively stable voice. “It’s true. Well, I wanted to come back here to get some files that I left in the office and... have a chance to be forgiven for my absence last night.”

Abby gave her a sorry little smile, but Clarke stayed put and was silent for a few seconds, as if examining every word her mother had just said. Then she looked at her intensely and said in a low voice. “You know what we said: " _A half truth is always a lie_."”

Abby was still trying to figure out what her daughter meant when she saw her climbed stairs and shut the door to her room.

What did she mean exactly?

Did she think she could come back to get files but not seek forgiveness from her daughter?

_Do not worry too much, you have at least managed to remove it from the problem._

It’s true. Clarke didn’t seem to suspect that she was not coming back from the hospital. It was already a good point. If her daughter began to snoop around on her travels, her marriage would be over.

_Isn’t it already?_

This question has haunted her since the beginning of this story, but so far the answer hasn’t been revealed. Abby didn't know if she had to make a choice or if the choice was already made and it was getting more and more complicated to postpone the question. Besides, it was, once again, avoided by the young woman as she entered her boiling and comforting shower.

***

When Kane's sleep was disturbed by the sun, Abby had already been gone for more than two hours so when he opened his eyes and groped the place next to him, in the bed, he found the emptiness and the cold. Confusion descended on him like fog on a rainy day and reality mixed with past fantasies.

_Had this fantastic night, full of orgasms, never happened? Or rather, was it real?_

This hard reflection made him sit up and sigh. He pressed his palms on his eyes to force himself to wake up and forget this delicious dream but, obviously, it was _impossible_.

A slight glance at his alarm clock restored hope almost lost when he saw the little note with handwriting very hard to decipher. _These doctors are all the same..._

A smile cut through his features with light and he held out his hand to try to decipher her little illegible fly paws.

It was a number.

HER number.

Without waiting, he rummaged on the bedside table and typed a message as quickly as possible, just to make sure he was not dreaming again.

***

“Why are you smiling like that?”

Asked Callie to an Abby apparently more than happy to simply check unimportant emails on her phone.

“For nothing.”

“Oh, please, honey, not to me.”

Abby rolled her eyes and started to write an answer.

She was in her office, tidying up her files between two patients as Callie went to spent their little half hour chatting.

Kane's message had turned her mail check upside down and she had probably blushed or smiled. Maybe both.

Callie snatched the phone from her as she still wrote the answer.

“So let's see what makes you so happy.”

“Callie no... please.”

Abby reaches out but her best friend stands up and walks around, reading Kane's message out loud.

“"You left early this morning... the sun did not warm me as much as your presence. "”

Abby turned red and hid her face behind her hands. Callie exploded with laughter and put her hand in front of her mouth before looking at the answer that Abby had started typing. She came back to her and looked at her, smirking.

“It's very hot, little minx.”

Abby sneered and looked at her between her fingers, her voice muffled by her palms.

“You shouldn't have read this message.”

“Well, now that it's done, you're going to explain to me who it comes from.”

“Callie...”

“Abby...”

A heavy sigh left the young doctor's lungs as she let herself go in her big chair. Thinking about her answer, she pouted and started to play with her fingers as being small and that she admitted a serious fault to her mother. Callie knew that face and frowned.

“It's Kane... is that it? Did you sleep with him again?”

“Four times.”

“Oh wow...”

“In one night.”

Callie opened her eyes wide and looked stunned for a moment. So long, at one point, Abby looked up to make sure she was still in the room.

“Callie?”

“Abby... it's adultery.”

“I know...”

Abby couldn't take it anymore and stood up, taking by a crashing wave of guilt. She surveyed her office, trying the advice of sophrology whose effectiveness she preached with her patients in childbirth.

“Why? Jake doesn't make you happy?”

“What? Yes... of course he does. He’s sweet and caring and... he is a wonderful father. I think he's the most honest man I know and I...

The young woman stopped in the middle of the room and looked at her friend, decomposed. Callie smiled softly at her and handed her the phone.

“Tell Kane that you made a mistake. Tell him it's over.”

Abby took the cell phone and looked at Kane's message with a pit in her stomach. She knew she wanted to do it but it was strangely more complicated than she thought. Her best friend took her bag and little jacket and caressed her shoulder affectionately.

“Whatever you do, I'm on your side, sweetie.”

Abby smiled and nodded, looking at her tenderly. She let her go and fix the message for a long time before deciding to respond and therefore break up with Kane.

At the same time, her phone displays a nice photo of Clarke cuddling Jake in the background of the incoming call.

Jake called her and reflexively, she picked up.

“Jake?”

“Hi, are you ok, baby? Clarke told me you came back to shower, but I'm a little worried.”

“Yes, yes I’m fine.

“Oh good.”

He appears a little disappointed and Abby felt a little guilty so she adds. “I miss you.”

“Is it true? You’re not angry with me anymore?”

Abby's heart turned. “No... not of course not.”

A breath pierced the line of communication and the young woman understood that her husband was relieved of an apparently heavy weight.

“I'll be waiting for you tonight and I'll be forgiven. I would run a bath for you and massage all the painful parts of your body after this day of work. I love you, baby.”

Tears formed in Abby's eyes and she had to swallow hard so he wouldn't hear her through the cellphone.

“I love you too.”

“See you tonight.”

The call was cut and Abby dropped into the chair where Callie sat a few minutes earlier. As she let out her hot and painful tears, the phone vibrated, announcing a new message.

The young woman sniffed and wiped one of her cheeks before looking at the text through her glassy eyes.

**/Abby I’m sorry... I don’t want to bother you, I thought it was a good night. At least it was for me. Take care./**

A hiccup left her lips and she had to put her hand over her mouth to keep herself from exploding in tears at her workplace.

If Jackson showed up in her office, he would see the disaster and surely wonder why Abby was sobbing.

The truth is, she came to understand why she was unable to give up on her marriage and why she also couldn't end her fledgling relationship with Kane.

_The choice was impossible._

She ends up answering Marcus by apologizing for not having done it earlier and as soon as she went home, with her husband, she played the model wife and tired because of her work and not because of hersubsequent lovemaking with her lover.

_Lover or Husband._

_The hellish dilemma was here._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, does my story still good for you ? I truly want to know your thoughts 😘
> 
> See ya next week!!! 💚


	9. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday for Marcus. But not a good day for Abby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late, so much work this week 🥴

Two days had passed and Kane and Abby hadn’t seen or even spoken to each other, either by message or by loud voices.

The young woman had been very busy with her work and family duties but today was her day off and although she would have liked to spend time with her daughter to catch up for her recent mistakes, Clarke was in class all the day.

As for Jake, he had received a call from work early this morning, his collaborators apparently had a "major concern to be resolved urgently". These were his words.

Abby therefore found herself alone in her big house.

She had already spent a large part of a day taking over some late files.She got out of the shower after her little weekly jog, it was barely three o'clock.

Usually, she would go to the hospital to help but Jackson had forbidden her to come today. She was the superior, of course, but Jackson wasn’t wrong that she should have eased off. It was still just as complicated for her to put her patients aside to take care of herself. As something unnatural for her selfless person. Yet, the doctor wouldn’t go to work for this time.

This option removed, what would she do?

A voice inside her screamed at her to call this handsome man with brown curls who divinely played with his tongue and his hips.

_No way in hell!_

Abby bit her lip at her phone screen open to the conversation with Kane. It was tempting. _Terribly_ tempting. But she couldn't take refuge in his arms every time she got bored. It wasn't good for Jake, for her and her self-esteem, and finally for Kane.

But at the same time, what better time to see him again was it not just this one?

Jake more than thirty minutes from here, to Polis and Clarke in college. The house for her alone... her alone with Kane.

_With Kane._

She typed a quick message to Kane, asking him to find her at home. But disappointment creeps into her as the minutes go by without receiving an answer from the man.

Maybe he didn't want to see her anymore?

This was strangely _painful_.

But Abby was not the type of person to get discouraged. She was always fighting for what she wanted and hope and optimism always won over her disappointment.

She grabbed her little red biker jacket, her car keys and left the house for Kane's apartment.

Going to her lover's house in broad daylight was insane and dangerous, but the excitement flowing through her veins was fantastic.

***

On April 17, 1984, Marcus Kane was born at the Polis Central Hospital in Canada. A small baby weighing 3.9 kg and 52 cm.

Son of Stefan and Vera Kane.

Today, April 17, 2019, he celebrated his 35th birthday.

As with all his birthdays, he had spent the night with his mother and had the right to a small family brunch. If we could say "family" because there was only him and his mother. But as Vera often said, "we don’t count how much we are in family, we count on it".

He still missed his father.

Not that he lacked his person but rather it was the existence of him at his side that he lacked. His mother could make every effort in the world to fill the void in him, it would never be enough. And they both knew.

A child needs a mother and a father.

Nature created Man in this way and although Marcus was a balanced, sensible and relatively happy person, the absence of a father weighed on him every day. He hadn't learned to play the foot like everyone else with his father. He knew how to do it, of course, thanks to school, but it wasn’t the same. He hadn't done a Father's Day since his 6 years old and had forgotten what was it not to be made fun of when the other wrote or painted a gift to their dads that day. Besides, he no longer said the word "dad".

The period of his birthday reminded him, each time, that his mother was the only family he had and that as always, he was putting away by society.

So, after brunch, Marcus left to walk an hour or two on the Mont Weather trail. To recharge his batteries and avoid feeling depressed on the day when, normally, you had to breathe the joy of living.

The sight, the calm and the physical effort allowed him to put into perspective and to distance himself from his feelings so as not to collapse. This is how he overcame his anxieties, his doubts and his sorrows before the next difficult birthdays that awaited him.

***

When Abby rang for the umpteenth time on the intercom of Kane's building, she let out a big sigh of frustration and disappointment.

Apparently, he wasn’t at home and he didn’t respond to her messages either...

_What was he doing?_

He wasn’t at work, Harper had confirmed that when she had called his office. Part of her had been reluctant to do so, not wanting to pass for a hung and jealous woman, but ultimately the part of her who was missing Marcus Kane surpassed modesty and restraint.

Anyway, he wasn’t at work, nor at home.

_But where was he?_

As she turned back, lowering her head on her white and impeccable city baskets, the door of the building opened and she turned hopefully again before discovering...

_That it wasn’t him.._

“Hi.”

“Hi.” She replied politely.

She smiled at the man and tried her luck. Maybe he knew where Kane was.

“I don't want to delay you, but could you tell me if Marcus Kane is at home?”

She silently prayed that won’t let her down and for her surprise, he smiled back.

“No, I don’t think so. I know he didn't come home last night.”

“Oh...”

So he had sleepover. But why? Did he see someone else? She was cheated by the person with whom she cheated on her husband. If anger did not rise in her, Abby could surely laugh at this ridiculous ironic situation. But a word kept looping through her boiling brain.

_Asshole!_

“Are you ok?”

Abby blinked and focused on the person in front of her again, putting her anger and her distraught aside. She felt her cheeks turn red however.

“Do you know where he can be?”

Her tone was harder and colder than she wanted to let appear and the man must have felt the discomfort because he scratched the nape of his neck, nervously.

“No I am sorry. But maybe her mother can help. I often see her come here.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“Well, you’re welcome.”

Abby started to leave the man and yelled something like a "good luck" to her that she barely heard since she was already slamming the door of her tesla.

She left the parking and headed for the parish. Vera Kane was known to everyone at Arkadia. She was one of the great organizers of the church and always helped organize the charity balls that Abby's cabinet planned for the year.

***

Marcus was coming back from his _therapeutic walk_ , as he liked to call it, and turned on his phone to check his work emails and making progress on his work on his way home.

He was attacked by a lot of voice messages, calls and SMS all coming from the same person: _Abby_.

Abigail Griffin had tried to reach him, at least 26 times, tells his phone, and it was... _satisfying_.

The woman he had lusting after so many years, the one who had haunted his dreams since they had their forts argue together, the one who made him vibrated every time she touched or kissed him.

She wanted to see him again and the thought made him speed up to go home to his mother, jump in the car and drive towards this incredible woman.

When the house of his childhood takes shape in the distance, he started to run, wothout cairns about his already sore muscles after this sports hike.

He still couldn’t put words on how he felt for Abby or about the situation. He didn't even know what he really felt when he was with her. The only thing he was sure of was that his body relaxed next to hers, that his heart was calming down from this lonely heavy weight and that his spirit sparkled when they debated or talked together.

Marcus felt something strong. He didn't know what, how or why, but Abby made him feel alive, and the feeling was new, strange and pleasant.

That's all he understood for the moment and subconsciously he preferred not to dig further.

He entered his mother's house, breathing heavily.

“Mom!I'll go, I forgot I had...”

He stops on the threshold of the small kitchen, cut in his momentum by an unexpected show. Abby was sitting next to Vera, sipping what looked like tea. It was disconcerting and Marcus swallowed to try to regain his composure while facing this surpsise.

“Abby came to wish you a happy birthday, darling. I didn’t know that you were finally friends.”

Vera drink her tea and looked her son over the cup with eyes full of mischief. Kane narrowed his eyes and clenched his lips.

“Abby, I didn't know we expected to see each other.”

The concern smirked and put her cup on the wobbly little table. She licked her lips and tilted her head to one side, dropping her long golden wicks and caramel on one of her shoulders.

_Lord god_... he was already labored before she did that.

“We didn't have an appointment, no. But I still wanted to tell you something important.”

“Oh...”

Marcus straightened up and put his hands behind his back, as if for a professional discussion. Abby picked up her cup and drink a sip before restarting the drama act with her tongue. Marcus cleared his throat and forced himself to look away this time before his pants were definitely too tight.

Abby put her cup down and got up, grabbing her delicate little scarf and her little suede biker jacket. What a _chic_ and _distinguished_ woman... compared to the one he had had in his bed.

“Are you leaving my sweet?”

“Yes... I'm sorry. I have to go home before my daughter finds herself alone there.”

“Of course yes.”

Vera also got up and hugged Abby who was surprised at first. She finally returned the gesture and the two women smiled.

“Come back to me when you want. I really like your company.”

“It's a shared pleasure.”

Vera started to walk the young woman but Marcus stood in front of them and placed his hand on his mother's shoulder.

“I'm going to escort Abby to her car.”

“Oh okay. Goodbye Abby. See you soon.”

Abby smiled softly in response and passed Marcus. They both ended up outside, and Marcus sighed hard as they walked down the street. There was a small parking near the park further away and it was the only place where Abby could had parked her overpriced car.

The tension was palpable between the two lovers and they didn’t know how to engage in a conversation with the other.

Abby chewed the inside of her cheek and Marcus glanced furtively at her every ten seconds.

After a few yards, Marcus stopped, forcing Abby to do the same. She turned to him and frowned.

“Won't you walk me to my car?”

“Why did you come to see my mother?”

Abby looked down, her cheekbones gradually reddening. She would never admit the real reason, either to Marcus, or to herself.

“I... I wanted to talk to you but you weren't answering and you weren't at home.”

“You get to my house?”

It was Kane's turn to frown. She had gone to his house to speak to him.

_Interesting._

“Harper told me you weren't working so I assumed you were at home.”

“Harper. You... wait, you called my office?”

He was smiling smugly now. He crossed his arms over his chest, bulging it. Kane was proud and flattered. Abby looked up and smiled shyly before pulling herself together and offering her a sarcastic smile.

“Don't get too the big for your boots.”

“Not a chance.”

“Because they’re already are.”

Their eyes shone with humor together and Abby replaced a lock of her hair behind her ear before whispering in a soft voice. “I wanted to see you.”

Marcus felt the previous tension turn into electricity. The previously uneasy air was spinning. The alchemy between them manifests itself and immerse them in this state of dangerous and intoxicating excitement.

“Come.”

He slipped a hand around her wrist and led her into the undergrowth that littered the street in which his mother lived. Abby walked as quickly as possible, anticipation guiding her steps on the damp ground. Her shoes were a little dirty, but that wasn’t what worried her the most at the moment.

He made them stop when he consider that they were far enough from the road and took her face in cup before kissing her fiercely, tasting her lips, her tongue and melting his body against her. A moan left them both and Abby plunged her hands into his hair to press him further against her.

The breeze rose and made the leaves and branches of the trees fly, like a perfect symbiosis of nature with their primal carnal desire. It was like a properly executed dance, staging two bodies, two mouths, two tongues, two souls communicating naturally.

Breathless, Abby pulled away, feeling the familiar feeling of Kane's mouth against hers creeping all over her body, sending shivers down her legs. She puts a hand on her mouth by reflex and opened her eyes to try to regain her composure.

Marcus looked at her, his eyes almost glazed, as if she were his drugs, his hair messy from the wind and the delicate little fingers of the woman in front of him, his mouth swollen and glistening after this senseless kiss.

He felt the need to take her in his arms and never let go of her again but he stifled the thought deep within him, imagining what it would be to be pushed back.

Abby looked around as if to make her mind breathe too. Her face lit up when she discovered this superb place.

Trees as far as the eye can see, despite the fact that they were not far from the road, red leaves strewn on the ground and the setting sun reflecting through the fine branches.

It was fabulous, like a secret place protected from civilization and the pollution of the city. The birds were squawking loudly and the wind hitting the leaves was a bulwark against the sounds of cars passing on the road next door.

“It's a wonderful place.”

Kane looked around too, even if he knew the wood by heart. He nodded silently, then looked at her again. He promises to show her more when she wants it because if she likes this preview, she would love his inch of peace more than anything.

“I’m glad you came.”

Abby smiled deeply and approached him before offering him a tight hug. Marcus remained silly at the time and closed his arms around her only after at least five good minutes.

Abby smiled a little more and closed her eyes before taking a deep breath against Kane's strong shoulder. She felt him gradually relax and when he sighed softly, she brought her lips to his ears to whisper. “Happy birthday, Marcus.”

Marcus swallows and smiles before letting her go of him. He wanted to tell her what was going on in his head at the moment, explain to her how he felt but it was already an incomprehensible mess for him. How could he express himself without scaring her away? He preferred to be silent.

“I'll go. My daughter will be waiting for me.”

Marcus looked at his watch and gradually decomposed. He wanted to spend more time with her.

“Are you sure?”

“I would like to stay believe me. But I have to get home before Clarke comes in.”

“I understand...”

Marcus looked down and crossed his arms behind him, establishing formality in their discussion. Abby felt his change in behavior and instead of going away, she stepped forward and slipped her hand under his chin to force him to look at her.

“We will have time to meet again.”

He blinked and detailed her perfect face. Abby smiled when she saw him doing it and stroked his lower lips with her thumb.

“Send me a message when you can and I'll do my best to free myself.”

“Abby...”

She didn't let him finish and pressed her lips gently to his. He let his heart melt on contact and only opened his eyes to see her move away towards the road.

He started to run to catch up with her and have more but when he reached the street, she was gone. Like a mirage.

There were only the cars, a couple on the sidewalk opposite and a little brunette with a ponytail going to his right, glancing at him.

_Happy birthday, Marcus..._

***

Abby had stepped out of the woods so quickly that she had run into a young girl with brown hair pulled up in a ponytail. She didn't look convenient for her rather young age from the features on her face as Abby quickly apologized before being drawn into a fight.

She left quickly because she felt tears rising in her eyes as she watched Marcus disappointment.

_Marcus._

She called him by his first name and not by his last. It was a first. The feeling that had exploded in her chest, as soon as she felt Marcus hugging her, pushed her to be gentle and kind, more than she had ever been with him.

He was no longer Kane, the heartless, cold and distant man. At least _not totally_. He was also Marcus, a gentle, cultivated and endearing man. This beautiful place he had shown was accessible to everyone and yet it made it _heartfelt_ and _special_.

Abby came home with a smile on her face. She parked her car and sighed out before taking a deep breath in the evening air.

The young woman had spent an hour looking for Marcus everywhere and another hour sitting with Vera. This woman was adorable and Abby wanted to know a little more, if it was possible.

Jake's parents lived in Europe and never saw their granddaughter. Abby had a lot of trouble with them. But with Vera, it was natural when the two women had no reason to get along.

_Don't compare them!_

Abby shook her head, suppressing herself as she was taking the mails in her mailbox. Although, It was strange, because she was sure that she had emptied it that morning. She didn’t payed more attention and opened the only letter inside.

The words inscribed were forever marked in her head.

It was a threat letter...

"I know what you did.

It makes me sick.

I’m going to tell."

No more no less.

_Someone knew._

_Yes but who?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think ? 😇  
> (Yeah, I use a show, which one ? 🤔🤫🤪) 
> 
> See you next week, hopefully 😘


	10. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avoiding the problem is probably not the solution.

_Who was it?_

_Who could send such a letter?_

Abby might turn the problem over and over in every way imaginable, no one close enough to her to understand what was going on was capable of such an atrocity.

“Abby?”

She jumped and dropped her fork onto her plate. The two blond heads sitting at the dining room table turned their attention to her, looking as surprised as they were puzzled.

After reading the letter, Abby came in and immediately got it stowed away in one of her medical files, where neither Jake nor Clarke would inadvertently find it. Then her daughter had come home just like Jake and they were now at the table, enjoying a meal from the caterer since Abby wasn’t cooking.

The young woman looked at them with wide eyes and coughed a little before retrieving her fork. Clarke sighed and looked at her father insistently.

He finally cleared his throat to get his wife's attention and took on a soft voice.

“Babe, are you with us?”

“Yes... yes sorry. I thought... I was thinking of one of my patients.”

“Abby, we talked about this already.”

Clarke pushed her napkin onto the table and sneered bitterly.

“Clarke, please.”

“What's the point, dad? She doesn't even listen when I'm talking to her. It's not interested in all ways.”

“Clarke!”

Abby glared at her daughter and Clarke, true to herself, returned it to her without batting an eyelid. Jake sighed and put his hand on Abby's, circling his thumb for relaxation.

“Girls, please.”

“I'm not hungry anymore.” Clarke said.

“Neither do I.”

The two women got up and left in their rooms without another word, leaving Jake alone in front of his truffle risotto.

Abby stretched out on her back, sighing on the large king size bed she shared with Jake. All the emotions of the day flared up suddenly and tears tingled in her eyes. They reflected the emotional lift she had undergone over the past 24 hours. Disappointment, at first, when she hadn't heard from Kane, then the anger when she had believed he was dating someone else. The joy and relief she had felt when kissing Kane in the undergrowth and then the anguish following the letter. It was too much for one woman even for _Abby Griffin_.

She picked up her phone and called Callie because in all the bad times in her life, her best friend was the pillar that kept her positive and hopeful. The young woman didn’t make her wait long before picking up. “Hey, sweetie. How is it going ?”

“Hello..”

“Outch. What’s happening? I know that bitter, tired tone.”

“Oh Callie...”

Sobs shook Abby and she straightened up to grab a handkerchief and wipe away her tears. She had to hold on to a minimum if she wanted Callie to understand what she was saying. After a few sniffles and deep breaths, the young doctor launched into a long and tedious explanation of her whole day without omitting a single detail. When it was finally the letter's turn, Abby fell silent and swallowed hard.

Callie couldn't be the author of this rag. Yet it was a doubt, however small it might be, that Abby had to dispel serenely.

“Callie...”

“I can tell you're holding something back. Honey, you know you can tell me anything so keep going.”

“It's delicate.”

“Are you kidding me?! You told me how you slept with Kane but can't you tell me that? Come on, Abby.”

Callie chuckled softly on the other end of the line and Abby bit her bottom lip, playing with the end of a pillow.

“I received a letter.”

“A letter?”

“Threat.”

“What do you mean?”

Abby recited the contents of the letter to her, which she knew by heart from dancing the words in her head, trying to find a way out.

“Oh sweetie, I'm sorry. It's horrible. Do you know who wrote it to you?”

There you have it, the _fateful_ question was on the table.

“No one knows except...”

“Me...”

Silence fell and Abby thought Callie had hung up but a long sigh was heard. The wait for an answer made Abby so nervous that she was biting her nails now. A nasty flaw that her mother had wanted her to forget, _without_ _success_.

Callie's voice was soft and compassionate when she finally spoke. “I would like to tell you that it is me but it’s not.”

“I wasn't accusing you.”

“I know my dear. I understand the fact that you needed to ask.”

A relieved smile developed on Abby's lips as a sense of trust built in her. Callie was and always would be on her side. She found herself stupid to have believed, even for a brief moment, that she could be the author of that cursed letter.

“I feel so dumb.”

“No Abby, I understand don't worry. But since we established that it wasn't me, did you think of anyone else? Has anyone seen you both?”

The doctor's brain started spinning again but nothing came. She had suspects, of course, but it was all so hazy right now.

“Not really.”

“Okay. Well, first, you should rest. Tomorrow I can’t leave the office for the day but Thursday we can establish a strategy.”

“This isn’t a city campaign, Callie.”

Abby let out a small chuckle and the tension in her shoulders eased slightly.

The two women hung up a few minutes later and Abby changed quickly before finally going to bed.

When Jake slipped in next to her, she had already been asleep for a good half hour. All she was aware of was the light kiss he placed on her cheek, drawing a slight smile from her as he turned his back to sleep.

***

_Stupid. Idiot. Ridiculous._

_She won't answer._

_Stupid._

_It's been a week, Kane._

_Idiot._

_She forgot about you._

_Ridiculous._

Indeed, a week had passed and Kane had no news from Abby. It wasn't for lack of trying. Messages, calls, mails. He had tried everything within the limits of discretion. He saw her at the council meeting last Friday but she had avoided all contact, visual or physical.

It was as if she had ended their relationship as soon as he revealed himself even a little bit. What a disappointment...

_Stupid. Idiot. Ridiculous._

“Kane. Still there?”

Marcus looked up from his screen and forced a polite smile on his lips. Jaha stood in the doorway, looking relaxed.

“Yes sir.”

“You should go home, it's getting late.”

Truth be told, it was only 6 p.m. and work was helping to keep his mind busy on something other than the _unbearable_ Abby Griffin.

“No, I'd rather finish this report.”

Jaha rolled his eyes and walked into Kane's office before flipping the screen switch. Marcus sighed and looked at Thelonious, containing his exasperation.

“Sir...”

“You have an hour to go home and change.”

Marcus frowned and leaned back in his seat. _What is this mess?_

“I'm planning a dinner tonight at 7 p.m. with some friends. Don’t be late.”

When Marcus stood up and his tongue voiced the protest, Thelonious was already walking through the doorway and it was too late to refuse.

_Great_... A dinner with Jaha and his friends. It could mean friends in the strict sense or in the sense of election. Either way, it wasn't very interesting for Kane other than gaining points in lobbying.

The evening was shaping up to be long and soporific for Kane.

It wasn’t, however.

***

“I thought it was okay?!”

“It wasn't.”

“Jake, what are you trying to tell me?”

“I'm just saying I have to do more readings and other calculations, to be sure. Don't worry, babe.”

Abby sighed and tried to relax as they walked towards Jaha's house. She hated the idea, but they had been invited to dinner earlier in the week and it would have been bad to refuse. It was the mayor after all and Abby knew she had to keep up appearances as long as she could. To be seen in public, in love and devoted to her husband would confuse the mind of her blackmailer.

Since the letter she had had no news. After all, she had cut off all contact with Kane so the person had surely given up. At least she hoped so wholeheartedly.

By Thursday, she had made a list of all the people who could understand and send a letter like that. She and Callie had suspicions about Diana Sidney of course who knew something was up and who was capable of a low blow like that. Harper was to be taken into account since she would have put the link between the call and the visit of Abby to the office of Kane but the meanness of the letter didn’t really match her.Jackson, his cabinet assistant had been able to see more when Kane had warmed Abby in her office but that wasn't sure, and then he too wasn't responding to the malicious character. Jaha probably didn't suspect a thing but he was capable of an act of the sort so it was still possible.

All these possibilities were starting to reach the young woman's nerves but by avoiding Kane, she believed that it would put an end to them. It wasn’t small feat, however.

It had been so difficult for her not to answer his messages, his calls or even his emails. Avoiding his gaze during the meeting was just as much, but she had to stayed strong to avoid breaking her husband's heart.

“Do you think we're the only ones invited?”

“No, I don’t think so. You know Jaha.” Jake replied.

Abby pursed her lips and took a deep breath before ringing the bell at the large satin and varnished wood door. They had brought an expensive bottle of wine, too expensive for Abby to waste on a night out, but Jake had insisted.

At least if she needed to get drunk, it would be with good wine, she thought, when the servant let them in.

As the little couple took off their jackets two voices echoed through the great hall.

_Oh no, not that._

_No no no..._

“Abby, Jake, good to see you.”

Thelonious greeted them, stepping out of the living room, a big hypocritical smile on his lips. The figure that followed him was confirmation of Abby's nightmare.

_Marcus Kane._

He was beautiful. Looked slightly sullen but it was almost imperceptible. He wore nice black jeans, a dark blue shirt open at the collar, leaving a few hairs from his chest out and a black suit jacket over it, tightening the muscles of his arms.

_God, Abby, stop drooling_. Her conscience shouted at her.

But it was stronger than her. She liked the man and there was nothing she could do to prevent her own body from reacting to this attraction.

However, she had to be careful not to show her feeling too much because her husband was by her side and he knew her inside out.

Jake shook hands with Thelonious and then with Kane. Marcus seemed to linger in the exchange and Abby noticed the small movement Jake made, as if it had been painful. The satisfied smile Kane gave her made her vibrate. He had just entered into competition for her. Jake frowned but didn't dwell too much on the question.

“Abby, you look lovely.”

She smiled weakly at Thelonious compliment and let him kiss her cheek, too long for her liking. When he finally walked away, Marcus greeted her with a polite and distinguished nod.

“Abby.”

“Kane.”

She congratulates herself on having had the strength not to let her voice tremble. The evening was beginning and it promised to be... _interesting_.

***

“You are really amazing, Jake!”

Jaha was laughing at Jake's latest anecdote as they finished their meals. It was only Jake and Jaha having fun and Abby suspected that this dinner was still a masquerade to push Jake to influence in his favor in the municipal elections at the end of the year.

The young woman was playing with the rest of her dish, trying not to sigh too loudly in her annoyance. At the other end of the table, Marcus seemed to be so bored as well but hid it much better than her.

They would glance at each other from time to time, but no more than ten seconds each time. For several reasons. The first, quite obvious, so as not to let their connection to Jake show through.

As far as Abby was concerned, it was also to avoid arousing Jaha's suspicion that he was not the author of the letter, if not to make her understand that there really was nothing.

For Kane, it was more of a practical reason. He had been seething for Abby ever since he saw her in the hall.

She wore pretty white pants tight at the hips and slightly more wide towards the calves, a small low-cut white top but light and a very trendy gray checked jacket. He didn't know much about it but what he knew was that it was very, very sexy while still being chic and classy.

If he looked at her too long and let himself detail her more precisely, he might be unable to get up without showing his attraction to her. He wasn't sure he could take his gaze away from hers either if he let her gaze fall on him.

“Please excuse me.”

Her soft voice made him lift his head from his duck confit and looked at her like the other two men.

“I have to go powder myself. Your toilets are...”

“Marcus will show you.”

Jake frowned but didn't interfere. Thelonious tapped Kane on the shoulder and gave him a look so insistent he felt tiny. Startled, Kane opened his mouth but let the refusal die on the tip of his tongue. Maybe this was his chance to understand why she suddenly didn't want him anymore. So he stood up and accompanied Abby down the hallway next to the reception hall of Jaha's huge house.

When they were in the long hallway, they heard Jaha laughing again, reminding Kane that he couldn't be too long to state his questions nor too loud.

When they were close enough to the bathroom, Kane stops and stands in front of Abby to force her to confront him.

“What are you doing?” She whispered.

He succeeds in a low tone. “Why are you avoiding me?”

She let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. “Not now. Not here.”

“So when? You no longer answer my messages or my calls. Abby, tell me what's going on.”

Her face reflected intense thought and her body tensed. She was playing with her wedding ring, spinning it frantically. Marcus was tired of this silence and especially this unbearable distance between them. He stepped forward cautiously and put a hand on hers to stop torturing herself. She jumped at his touch and pulled back, raising her hands to make him understand not to push her.

His heart twisted and his brow furrowed in surprise and disappointment. _Couldn't he touch her now?_

“Abby...”

“We can't see each other anymore.”

A horrible feeling sank into him but he didn't know exactly what it was. _Despair, anger, rage, sadness, disappointment_... everything was mixed.

“You can't just say that.”

Abby clenched her jaw and straightened her posture, securing her position. “Yet I just did.”

Kane sneered. “Really, Abby? We returned to this kind of connection?”

The choice of the word had the desired effect since the young woman's cheeks began to blush even though she rolled her eyes. He tried to come closer again and this time she let him.

“Help me understand how we went from naked and sweaty to cold and distant.”

Abby tried to back away but he took her hands and one chosen thing leading to another, she let herself get stuck against the hallway wall. Jake and Jaha's voices tell them that they were not alone and that the risk of getting caught was high. Marcus placed his hands on either side of her head, taking her breath away for a moment. He saw her staring at his lips for short seconds before she closed her eyes.

“Tell me what changed, Abby...”

He deliciously left her name form on his tongue and brought a hand back to her cheek, stroking her cheekbone gently. _God he missed being able to touch her._

“Don’t do that...”

“I miss you Abby.”

“Marcus...”

He lifted her chin and made her look at him. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was fighting not to let them fall. Kane's heart twitched at the sight.

_Had he gone too far?_

All he wanted was her pleasure and happiness, not to make her suffer. So he withdrew his hand and started to pull back but unexpectedly Abby cupped his face and shook her head trying to smile.

“No... no it’s not that.”

He was more than lost this time. “So what is it?”

Abby's face contorted again as if she was holding something back, then her eyes fell to his lips again. It was she who pressed her mouth to his first, hoping that would make him forget his question. And so he kissed her back, letting out a moan as their tongues curled.

“Mmmm...”

“Shhh...”

Abby laughed as quietly as possible and let go of his lips. She stroked his cheeks with her thumbs and smiled softly as she admired his face.

“We can't do that here and not now.”

“We could... the toilets are right there.”

Abby pretended to be blessed. “Very classy.”

They smiled at each other and Marcus kissed her chin, nibbled on her jaw, and brought his hands back to her hips.

“Abby...”

“We can't... Jake is a few meters away.”

Indeed, they still heard their voices and their laughter from time to time going hand in hand with the noise of plates and cutlery. Despite this cleaver above their heads, Marcus didn't seem worried and Abby was doing her best not to let him fuck her in the hallway.

“If we get caught...”

“That's exciting.”

He lowered his kisses to her neck and groaned before nibbling on her earlobe. Abby made a superhuman effort not to squeal like she did every time and ran her fingers through his hair to push him against her a little more. Kane took the opportunity and pressed his body to her taking it as approval.

“Marcus...”

“Mmm...”

A delicious shiver seeped in him when he heard her pronounces his name in such an envious voice. She sighed in pleasure and ran her hands over his chest, wrapping her fingers in the few hairs sticking out of his shirt. _God, she missed him so much._

“I forgot how good it is when you touch me like that.” Whispered Abby.

He unfastened Abby's pants as he continued to kiss her on the neck, training his tongue along her carotid artery.

“Mmm...”

“Marcus not here...”

He stopped his kisses to look at her, smiling. “I offered you the toilets, remember.”

Abby rolled her eyes and Kane kissed her, continuing to smile. He unfastened his own pants and relief was immediate considering how swelled he was already for her.

“No... no seriously...”

She moaned silently as he began to massage her breasts through her blouse and bra.

“It won't take long... I promise.”

They heard Jake and Jaha laugh louder and their chairs move. The two froze in their caresses as if they were playing in 1 2 3 sun but the chairs moved again and nothing happened. The two men chatting again.

Marcus resumed his massage on Abby's generous chest and she leaned her head against the wall with a sigh, pink coloring her cheeks as pleasure washed over her.

This potential danger a few feet away, this risk of getting caught, was irresistibly _exciting_ and Abby was slowly taking a liking to it. This is partly why she capitulated.

“Okay... but quickly.”

Marcus smirked and kissed her passionately, drawing a small moan from the woman in his arms. He pulled up her pants and panties to drop them to her ankles. She took them off and helped Kane out of his and his underpants. In passing, she stroked his cock forcing him to lean on the wall behind her so as not to flinch. He nibbled on Abby's shoulder to keep from moaning loudly.

“You're so hard...”

“For you...”

He lifted his head and kissed her tenderly before looking at her. “Always.”

She smiled and placed him at her entrance. “Take me now.”

At that, Kane didn't need to be asked and thrust his cock inside her, kissing her at the same time to contain the sounds of both of them. It felt so good, so familiar, like it was his place. She let go of his lips to breathe and lifted one leg to wrap it around his hip.

“Stronger...”

Marcus held her leg against him and granted her request by thrusting harder and faster.

“Abby...”

“I know... me too.”

He gave one last blow and got lost in her as she bit her lip to avoid screaming. He kissed her on the neck and took a deep breath, staying inside her for a few more seconds as if to prolong the incredible feeling. She stroked his hair as she waited for it to come down too after their incongruous orgasm and felt fear run through her veins again.

_She had to tell him about the letter._

“Marcus... I... someone sent me a letter.”

He kissed her on the neck and withdrew from her, giving her a small moan that she tried to keep as quiet as possible.

“A letter?” He asked puzzled.

He couldn't quite see the connection between what they had just done and what she was saying. He picked up his boxer shorts and pants and got dressed. Abby however remained still, twirling her ring around her fingers again. Marcus realized that was what she was trying to hide from him a moment earlier.

“What does this letter say?”

Instead of answering, she bent down and resumed her habits. Kane let her do it and looked at her, starting to worry. This letter was definitely _the problem_. He thought for a moment how this could concern him. All he could imagine was that Jake had found it all out.

“Jake knows.”

Abby finished buttoning her pants and looked at him in alarm. “No.No, my god no.”

“So what, Abby?”

“Someone is blackmailing me.”

He frowned and swallowed, the feeling of having been spied on creeping into him. “Who?”

“If I knew, I would have solved the problem already, don't you think?”

She rearranged her hair as Marcus twisted the problem in his brain. _It couldn't happen_... He had always been so careful and respectful of laws and protocols. He couldn't get caught messing around with a married woman. What if it was someone who wanted to interfere with his job?

This possibility cast a shadow over his professional project of one day becoming mayor of Arkadia and finally being able to aspire to a better life. All this affair with Abby obscured his future certainly, but especially the one he had planned for his mother because as always, he wanted to get her out of poverty and do everything so that she was finally free from need.

He had to find out who it was and have him arrested immediately so that the impact was minimal.

“Who have you been thinking about at the moment?”

Abby Sighed. “Harper, Jackson, Thelonious, Diana Sidney... who is the main suspect in my opinion.”

“Why that?”

“She noticed the tension between us during the spring ball and made several innuendos. We both agree that she can be...”

“A viper.”

Marcus wasn't looking at Abby and she started to worry. She put a hand on his cheek to comfort him but he made her withdraw.

“You should have told me. When did you receive this letter?”

Abby bit her lower lip. “A week ago. When I came back from your mother’s house, it was in the mailbox.”

Marcus' face closed in anger and he pulled back, cursing in a low voice. “What’s the matter with you to hide this from me?”

Abby fell silent, ashamed and let Kane vent his anger. “Do you realize that it can also have consequences on my life? It's not just you who risk losing everything. If Jaha comes to know about us, he could fire me from his service and I could say goodbye to my future.”

He was starting to raise his voice and Abby was afraid he would alert her husband and Jaha.

“Marcus...”

“No. You should have told me about it.”

He seemed to weigh his words before speaking and looked at her disappointed. “I thought you were honest.”

With those last words he left her in the hallway and headed for the reception hall. She heard him apologize to the other two men and a few minutes later the large front door closed.

Abby returned, a few minutes later in the reception hall as if nothing had happened and cashed in the late evening going along with boredom and guilt towards Jake and Kane.

As she finally went to bed with her husband, hours after dinner was over, Kane's words echoed through her.

“I thought you were honest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there!!
> 
> This is definitely not my fav chapter but I hope you enjoy it anyway. 
> 
> See ya next week 😘


	11. Warning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are starting to get complicated for Kane and his feelings. Abby is facing the Council...

_Tumbtidim toumbtidim... toumbtidim toumbtidim..._

“Abby...”

She growled and hid her ears but soft lips brushed her neck and forced her to laugh. With a sigh, she pressed her alarm clock to turn it off and looked at Jake, leaning to the side, above her, admiring her with a soft smile.

“Hi...” she whispered still half asleep.

“Hello.”

He pressed his lips to hers and stroked the bare skin of her stomach left under her little nightie top. Jake thrust his tongue into her mouth and Abby responds with more enthusiasm than she thought.

The truth being that she _still missed her husband_.

The young woman cupped her man's face and devoured him greedily, nibbling his lower lip. He laughed against her lips and released them before stroking her cheek.

“I have to work but... save this energy for tonight.”

“Count it on.”

He laughed again and stole a kiss from her before getting up and going to get dressed. Abby stretched in her big bed and stood up as well.

The last few days had been rather _chaotic_ for her feelings and she was struggling to really see where she was as a mother, wife and... _unfaithful_.

She hadn't seen Marcus since dinner with Jaha three days before, and hadn't taken the time to respond to his apology messages either.

The doctor was overbooked with all the new patients who had pushed open the door of her office. His colleagues at Polis hospital had been transferred many cases following carbon monoxide poisoning of the population of Polis. Some had suffered headaches causing fainting when others were convulsing. Abby had seen several cases of poisoning here in Arkadia but not with such importance.

She had planned to speak to the council that was being held that evening, and to warn Jaha that one of the factories on the border between Arkadia and Polis must have a problem.

She had obviously discussed with Jake but he had remained evasive and discreet on the subject. If he knew anything, he would have told her.

_Wouldn’t he?_

The young woman finished dressing, wondering if her husband would be able to lie to her... She spent the whole day thinking about these patients, these symptoms, her husband.

_After all, why wouldn't he lie to her?She was doing it well._

***

“Harper, can you come to my office, please ?!”

Marcus let go of the front desk button on his landline and ran his hand over the patch of beard that was beginning to form on his usual smooth cheeks.

He hadn't taken the time to shave for three days, too busy with his work and this riddle of the letter to be solved as soon as possible. He absolutely had to find out who the author of this letter was before it tarnished his reputation and his future.

His suspicions had been placed on Jake at the start but he had to rule out all imaginable leads and for now the Jake possibility was unverifiable.

Kane had thought of his neighbor afterwards but after an exhaustive list of his motives and behaviors, he had concluded that it was surely not him.

His doubts about her mother were very brief because she would never try anything against him.

It was his assistant's turn to be cooked.

The young blonde walked into Kane's office a few minutes later and he studied her behavior as soon as she stepped inside.

“You wanted to see me, sir?”

_Clear voice, calm tone. All clear for now._

“Yes, sit down.”

“But sir, I have to prepare the council room.”

_Reluctance..._

“The council is only in one hour. You have time.”

Harper took a deep breath and sat down in front of Marcus' large desk. The interrogation could begin but it was necessary to remain subtle so that in the event that it wasn’t her, she wouldn’t made aware of the situation.

***

“Jackson? I’m going to the town hall.”

Abby took off her white coat and already put her things in her small bag as Jackson put the last files on her desk.

“You have council?”

“Yes.”

“With Kane?”

Abby's blood froze. _Was he the blackmailer?_ After all it was a possibility...

“Abby?”

The concern swallowed and prayed she hadn't turned scarlet in shame as her mind went on high alert.

“Yes... yes with Kane. And Jaha and the other councilors. Why are you asking me that?”

Her voice was shaking but she had to put on a good face until she was sure she was in danger.

“Oh I just wanted to know if your evening would be worse than your day.”

He gave her a warm, genuine smile and Abby's heartbeat gradually returned to a normal beat.

_You’re so silly!_ She had almost betrayed herself.

In any case, her suspicions about Jackson were more than _mixed_ now. Either he didn't know anything at all and he wasn't the author, or he marinated her in her own juice and waited for the opportune moment to strike where it would hurt.

She still couldn't imagine this last option.

Eric Jackson was such a kind and devoted man to his patients, to his friends, to her, to his boss, that Abby could not imagine such a quirky and petty act from him.

***

Five pm sharp, the council meeting began. Abby wasn't there yet, as always. She would be late and that had the knack of infuriating Kane.

At least that was the case before. Now it was more _worry_ than exasperation.

_What if she was held up at work. What if she had been in an accident on the road. What if Jake had found out... What if..._

Kane was constantly worried about Abby Griffin and he had to admit it was confusing. He had never had this unpleasant feeling of... of what?

_Of lack._

The man missed her body, her skin, her lips and strange again... her spirit. This woman made him laugh.

Kane smirked at the thought as Thelonious entered into the session. It was disconcerting, but ultimately pleasant.

“Sorry for being late... I had a lot of patients today.”

Her voice snapped Kane out of his dreams and interrupted Jaha in his speech. Abby took a seat across from Kane and avoided his eyes, a faint, barely noticeable blush running through her cheeks.

Marcus noticed, _obviously_.

The session resumed and all focused on the mayor and arrangements for the following week.

All but _one_.

Kane couldn't bring himself to take his eyes off the woman in front of him. Despite all the risks he ran in doing so, it was _impossible_ not to admire her. The anger he had felt against her three days ago had vanished and had given way to the insane good it gave him to look at her.

She looked tired but still ready for a heated debate. He could see it by the glint of determination in her eyes when Jaha brought up a topic he knew she wouldn't agree to. It was as clear as her clenched jaw, holding back her tongue sharpened with searing arguments.

Abby gave him some look but didn't really dare to step into that game. She knew full well that if she let it go, she would blush and lose the meeting file. However, she had some important things to talk about in council tonight, and she couldn't let her _incandescent_ urges for Kane push her away.

“Okay, let's get started. Kane, is the budget report I asked you for finished?”

Kane cleared his throat and pulled his report out of his small file. He handed it to Thelonious and opened his mouth to begin his speech but he was interrupted. “Thelonious, we have more urgent to deal with.”

Abby had stood up and handed over her medical report from the past week. Marcus looked at her with a frown and couldn't help but protest. “Abby, wait your time.”

“We don't have time for these idiocies, Kane.”

Marcus stood up, annoyance rising in him. “Those idiocies? The city's security budget is huge and you know it.”

“Yes, and much much less than the cases of poisoning that I have seen.”

“Don’t start.” Kane growled.

“Is it a threat?!”

Marcus clenched his fists and glared at her.

_How dare she did that?!_

Jaha sighed and stood up in turn, taking a relatively calm tone for the situation. “That’s enough. Stop your ridiculous little game of who's got the biggest. If your findings are so alarming, Abby, then show us. We have time for the budget debate later, Kane.”

“Thank you.” Abby smiles proudly.

“Pathetic...” Kane whistled.

Abby glared at Marcus and he did the same. The tension was palpable, electrifying the room as the two sat down again, as did Jaha.

Abby had that proud, haughty little smile that, in normal times, would have pissed off Marcus the most, but... this time, a burning fire of desire deep inside him.

And god, she knew it since she bit the corner of her lip while batting her eyelashes. Marcus swallowed and couldn't stop the smirk from forming on his own lips.

“Abby, please. You have the floor.” Jaha said.

The young woman lifted her chin and spoke confidently as she handed out her cabinet’s weekly report.

“The numbers are not as telling as the dying patients asleep at the moment in the hospital, but I understand that it’s not as clear to you as it is to me. Having said that, you would all agree that a person doesn’t suffer from seizures for no reason. Even less ten men at a time. Of course, we are doing everything we can to treat these people, but the problem is that instead of reducing the number of sick people, it’s increasing dramatically.

“How do you explain that?” Jaha asked, focused on trying to figure out the diagrams and calculations on her sheet.

“It's simple. We treat the symptoms. Not the disease.”

“What is the disease?” Marcus asked, frowning at Abby's worried gaze.

“Carbon monoxide poisoning.”

“To what?” Asked Councilor Muir, responsible for education.

“Carbon monoxide is present in the hydrocarbon. Fuel if you prefer.”

Jaha seemed to find something interesting, and most importantly he understood, in Abby's report and narrowed his eyes at her.

“These people are from Polis. It's not about our town, Abby.”

“It concerns us when the Polis hospital calls on us for help.”

Abby clenched her jaw and calmed her nerves as much as possible. She knew how to this discussion was going to end.

“I'm sorry, but it's not up to me.”

Marcus rubbed his chin and asked the interesting question. “What causes the poisoning? We have always lived with cars and fuel. Why is this only happening now?”

Abby smiled and pulled another piece of paper from her file before handing it to Kane. Their eyes met and Abby looked away before the heat clouded her mind. She continued, looking at Jaha. “A factory has just been built, if I'm not mistaken. On the border between Polis and Arkadia.”

Jaha looked up again at the insolent woman beside him and angrily breathed out. “Be very careful what you are going to say, Doctor Griffin. Especially since you have no proof.”

“I'm not advancing anything. I just notice the facts.”

Jaha closed the file and stood up, making a superhuman effort not to explode in anger. Marcus looked at him, confused and stood up as well.

“Sir...”

“The meeting is adjourned.We will resume Monday at the same time, exceptionally.”

Abby turned livid.She stood up, protesting. “What?”

“Doctor Griffin, I advise you not to insist.”

“But...”

Jaha walked past her with nothing more than a glare and left the meeting room. The other councilors stood up and looked at Abby, either sorry or irritated.

“Abby...” tried Kane.

“No, Kane. Not now!”

She almost ran out of the room and Marcus remained blissful.

_What had just happened?_

***

When she got home, Abby threw her keys into the small bowl in the hallway and cursed under breath while removing her jacket and her shoes. She heard the sound of the TV suddenly turning off and the rustle of fabric before footsteps revealed themselves to her.

“Oh... it's you.”

Clarke folds her arms and looks at her mother with all the disappointment in the world. Abby sighed and hung her little scarf on the mind rack.

“I'm glad to see you too, Clarke. You've finished your homework hopefully before rooting yourself on the couch in front of whatever stupid show.”

Abby walked past her daughter and went into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine. Clarke followed her, protesting. “It's Saturday, tomorrow. I could do them then.”

”You’re right. Let's put it all off and see what happens.”

Abby opened the bottle of white wine and poured herself a tall glass with a sigh. The day had been more than long and the evening had gone very _badly so far_.

“That's not how you become important.”

“In your eyes, maybe not.”

Abby didn't hold back the remark and took a sip before looking at her daughter seriously. “Did you finish your experiment for Monday's competition?”

Clarke's eyes lit up with hope and she walked over to the center kitchen island, where Abby had asked for her elbows and took her head in her hands to massage her temples.

“You remember that competition?”

“Of course. Why does it surprises you so much? My daughter will finally be able to show that she has her place in society. Obviously I remember it.”

Clarke's face collapsed and the bell rang before she could answer. Abby rolled her eyes.

“Will you go open, honey ?! I'll reheat tonight's meal.”

Clarke looked down and nodded, hiding the painful tears from her mother.She walked over to the entrance and opened it, sniffing.

“What do you want?”

“Good evening, Clarke.”

Abby heard the tone of voices from the kitchen and her body stiffened. _What was he doing there?_

“Is your mother here? I would like to discuss.”

Abby left her drink and walked slowly to the front door, taking deep breaths to contain the heat that slowly took hold of her cheeks. She couldn't let her daughter see the effect Marcus was having on her or she would immediately understand.

“Abby Griffin is there yes. My mother I don't know.” Clarke retorted.

Marcus frowned at the remark. He was confused. Abby and Clarke were apparently in conflict often, but he didn't know it was so tense between them.

Abby's heart tightened a little exposed to hear her but she was sure her daughter didn't think so.

“It's okay, I'll take care of it, honey.”

The young mother stepped forward and ran a hand behind her daughter's back. Clarke shifted at her touch. Abby opened the door a little more and pretended not to be touched by her teenage girl's gesture. She swallows and feigns surprise as she looks at Kane.

“Kane. What is this visit worth to us?”

She tried to keep her tone cold and harsh, but all she wanted was for him to hold her against him after a difficult and exhausting day.

“Can I enter?”

“Um yeah. Clarke go upstairs to do your homework, please.”

The young girl sighed and rolled her eyes to accompany her nonchalance. “At your service...”

Clarke went upstairs and Abby ushered Marcus in. She walked over to the kitchen to return to her glass of wine before instinctively letting his arms surround her.

“Do you want a drink?”

“Oh no. No, I'm driving.”

He followed her and watched as she poured herself some wine when her glass wasn't really empty yet. _Hard day for her..._

“One drink is not dangerous. Word of doctor.”

He smirked and nodded. “In that case, why deprive yourself of it?!”

Abby hummed and turned for a stemmed drink from one of the signs. Marcus took the opportunity to walk over to her, stepping around the counter and leaning on the edge of it. When Abby turned, she jumped a bit and giggled nervously.

“What is so funny?”

She put the glass down and served him wine, still chuckling. “You have feline steps.”

“And is that what makes you laugh?”

His voice was tinged with amusement too. Abby quietly stopped laughing and sighed before closing her eyes and cocking her head to the side.Marcus watched her for a moment, restraining himself from hugging her for the solicitation.

“Why did you come?” Abby asked in a soft voice.

Marcus blinked and noticed that she was looking at him from under her long lashes, a tender smile on her lips.

“I...”

He cleared his throat, suddenly at a loss for words and he couldn't stop to whisper. “You’re so beautiful...”

“Marcus...”

Abby looked away and picked up her glass before lowering half of her wine.

_What was he playing?_ It was dangerous and unconscious flirting here, in her kitchen, in the house she shared with Jake and her daughter. Daughter who was in the house right now.

“Excuse me.”

“Why are you here?”

Her tone was harsher this time but Kane understood it very well.

“You don’t answer my calls or my messages.”

“I've been very busy at the hospital. You know why. And you were pretty hostile the last time...”

The anger was now in her words and he knew the discussion could only go wrong. Yet all he wanted was to have a good time relaxing with this _beautiful_ woman.

“Abby...”

“You should go.”

“I wanted to make sure that everything was going well between us since the evening at Jaha's place. I know I've been tough but I...”

Abby put her hand over Marcus' mouth and looked down the hallway behind him, looking scared. “You should speak louder, idiot.”

The stupid and tender smile he carried over his mouth under her hand caught her gaze and she licked her lower lip. Abby closed her eyes as Marcus kissed her fingers and took her wrist gently so that he could press his kisses a little more.

The spell that pushed them towards each other grew a little more with each touch, each kiss, each embrace as the difficulty of leaving each other also increased.

The young woman felt him lean towards her and had the delicious fear that he would dare to kiss her in her kitchen, but he didn't.

He brushed her cheek with his, showing her this new feeling of Kane with the beginnings of a beard and whispered close to her ear. “My place at midnight.”

He brushed his lips against her earlobe and Abby gasped.

“I can’t...”

Marcus smiled and stepped aside before taking the glass of wine she had served him. He drunks a sip, aware of the fire he had switched on in her. He swirled the wine around in his mouth and swallowed it slowly before setting the glass back on the counter.

“It's good... not as much as I have at home, though.”

His voice was hoarse and low, sending a tingling tingle down Abby's back.

“Marcus ... I can't come. I have to work on my pitch for Monday.”

“I'll let you yell at me to practice.”

Abby smirked and shook her head.

“I can’t come...”

Kane doesn't help and walked over to the front door. He gave her one last look over his shoulder, responding to his previous smile.

“Don't be late for once, Abby.”

Despite her refusal, Marcus knew she would come and Abby knew she would give in.

***

_Knock Knock knock._

“Can I come?”

A growl made Abby think she was authorized so she slowly opened the door to her daughter's bedroom and poked her head into her doorway.

“Are you ok?”

Clarke was lying on her side bed with her back to the door and her blankie apparently stuck to her mouth since her mother heard only a growl.

This little habit reassured Abby about her fear of her daughter would grow up. Like all mothers, the young woman feared that her baby would grow too quickly. But she was only 13 and Clarke still had time to give up on Mr. Frog.

Abby looked down at her baby and stepped forward to sit on the edge of the bed. She put a shy hand on her daughter's calf, which moved away from the contact immediately.

“Clarke...”

“Why hasn't dad come home yet?”

After warming the meal and setting the table, Abby got a message from Jake telling her that he would be home late and that he couldn't have dinner with his two women. Dinner then took place in an icy atmosphere for the first month of spring. Clarke had obviously been in a hurry to eat so she could take refuge in her room as quickly as possible.

Abby was left alone at the large table in her chic living room that can seat 12 people.

When she and Jake bought the house, they appreciated the large rooms, the uncluttered walls and the courteous neighborhood.

Now, sitting there, staring at her meal without envy, 11 empty chairs in front of her, Abby regretted her little college apartment. The noisy neighborhood and the 10 square meter rooms finally had a certain charm.

Two years before her marriage to Jake, when she was out of high school, Abby had shared a room with Callie and Sasha, Thelonious' ex-wife. It was around this time that the little group had formed. Since then Sasha had died in a car accident with her son Wells Jaha when he was only 5 years old.

Clarke vaguely remembered her friend, but sometimes when Jaha came by or her parents chatted about him, Abby saw the sadness in her little girl's eyes.

Thelonious then drifted into lies, cheating and manipulating his friends.Abby sometimes blamed herself for not being able to help him the way she wanted.

But she had a life and the changes had shaken her too.

By the way, at the moment, Clarke was in full growth and adolescence was not succeeding in her relationship with her mother. The years they had missed both didn’t help and the young blonde felt infinitely closer to her father than to her mother, it was undeniable.

But the roles seemed to be reversed for a few weeks and the adaptation time was becoming long for the two women.

“He's working hard right now.”

“I know. But I liked it better when it was you.”

Abby closed her eyes and fought back tears. It was very hard to hear that from her own daughter but she wouldn't cry in front of her either. Clarke needed to understand that it was like that now and that her mother was there for her. But tonight, Abby needed some comfort. That's why she called her mother.

“Your grandmother is here. I go out for a while.”

Clarke turned her head slightly and looked at her mother, puzzled. “You leave?”

“Yes. I... I would like to go to my desk and pick up some files.”

Clarke returned to her original position and sighed. “Obviously.”

It was Abby's turn to sigh and then she left her daughter to find her mother on the ground floor. She quickly walked past her to get her keys and her coat and came back putting it on.

“Clarke must be in bed before midnight.”

“Mmm...”

Abby rolled her eyes and fastened the buttons on her cardigan.

“Mom.”

“Yes Yes. I heard.”

The young doctor nodded to herself and slipped the strap of her bag over her shoulder. She was about to go out when she heard her mother's question.

“Where are you going exactly?”

“Uh... I... uh... at my office.”

There was a silence and Abby assumed her lie had taken hold. She got out and walked over to the car.

She had had three glasses of wine that evening, so she had planned to take a driver this time. Abby didn't like it, though, because yes she liked wealth, she was born into it but there were things that bothered her more than anything. Getting a ride was one.

***

Marcus was frying some vegetables in a pan while listening to the Nocturnes Op. 15 No 3 in G major, a Chopin classic. It was only 10 p.m. so he wasn't expecting his intercom to ring just yet.

_Yet it was._

Kane lowered the power on his hotplate and picked up a bean before tasting it as he walked to his door. He hit the microphone and waits for the person to speak.

“It's me... Abby.”

_As if he needed her to say her first name for him to recognize her..._

He opened the building for her and half-opened his front door so that she could join him in the kitchen when she would be upstairs.

A few minutes later, he heard his door close and he smiled proudly as he stirred his vegetables. She had come and was over two hours early. It was a small victory.

The man was wearing a white t-shirt and loose gray jogging bottoms. Despite this clothes neglect, Abby founds him incredibly sexy. He looked busy though, so instead of following her plan to jump on him, she decided to wait a bit.

She took off her coat and put it with her bag on Kane's bed. Delicious chills ran through her just thinking of lying there with this incredible man.

“Are you hungry?”

Abby jumped, not expecting him to heard her entering. She swallowed and walked over to the kitchen counter before sitting down in a high chair.

“No, I ate at home.”

She watched as he turned his back on her and rested her chin in her hand to drift in admiration. His back muscles contracted as he frantically stirred what looked like a pile of vegetables. It looked delicious and Abby wasn't just thinking about the food...

“I didn't think I would say that one day, but you're early.”

He turned and smiled when he saw her looking at him tenderly. Abby smiled softly and climbed down from her chair. She walked around the counter before wrapping her arms around his neck, sliding her hands through his hair.

“I want you...”

She saw him swallow hard and he couldn't help but kiss her. The kiss was ravenous at first, steamy but unexpectedly Marcus slowed down. He wanted to slowly increase the pace, take the time to really discover her this time. He already knew a lot about her now, but he wanted more. Know all the threads, all the moans she could make.

Abby let her lips down and nibble his jaw growling, drawing an uncontrolled laugh from Kane. She was apparently really excited tonight... _But it was every time they saw each other, right?_

A strange feeling of unease settled in Kane.

_What if it was ultimately only for sex? Was he just a distraction for her, a comfort when her husband wasn't there for her?_

His thoughts worried him so much that he had almost forgotten what she was doing. She dragged her tongue over his carotid, moaning softly.

“I like this beginning of beard...”

Marcus sighed and closed his eyes, unable to resist this woman. He made a mental note to never shave in life again if that's what she liked.

Abby pulled back a bit and looked at him intently, almost pleading.

“Take me Marcus...”

He almost had a stomach ache so much he wanted to but seeing so eager was disconcerting. Kane put his hand on her cheek and stroked her cheekbone while looking at her tenderly, concern transparent in his voice. “Abby, are you okay?”

The young woman swallowed and looked down at her hands. “I’m fine.”

“You don't know how to lie.”

Abby looked up at him and pursed her lips. Marcus realized the situation and corrected himself. “Okay, excuse me. I just wanted to say that, if you're not fine, you can talk to me. I keep the secrets well.”

Abby smiled shyly then surprised him by leaning her head against his shoulder and hugging him. A situation similar to the one they experienced in the woods.

Marcus hugged her back and did something he never thought he would do. He stroked Abby Griffin's hair. It was a tender and affectionate gesture, almost romantic and it surprised himself.

Abby looked up at him, the two lovers exchanged the sweetest look they had share so far. Marcus felt that feeling stir inside him and couldn't help but bring his face closer to kiss her.

It was a kiss of an almost painful softness, their lips barely meet and accept them breathlessly. A delicious excitement running through them and making them kiss again, more ardently, more desperately.

Their tongues rolled against each other, their clothes removed and forgotten, their hands frantically roaming every inch of each other's body. It was as if time had stood still to let them fully appreciate each other, taste each other greedily.

When Marcus carried his beauty to the bed and he positioned himself between her thighs, Abby pulled his face up to her. His eyes screamed silently at him, be in me, touch me, _look at me._

It was the first night Abby and Marcus actually _made love_.

***

“I'm hungry.”

“I hear that yes.”

She laughed and continued to stroke his arm with her fingertips, chills developing in him with each stroke.

Kane and Abby were stretched out like a spoon in Kane's bed, their hearts slowly calming after this passionate and tender embrace. Marcus stroked Abby's side and smiled against her honey hair.

“I'm sorry for the letter. I should have told you about it, I know that but as long as I didn't it was...

“It wasn't real.”

Abby kissed his shoulder and lifted her head to look at him. Marcus stroked her cheek and kissed her forehead.

“I'm sorry for what I told you. I was tough on you.”

A smirk appeared on his beauty's lips and he closed his eyes, suppressing a smile.

“Abby...”

“What? You gave me the stick to get beaten up.”

He laughed and hugged her. She lay down on top of him as before and closed her eyes with a sigh.

He understood Abby's change in mood and heard her sniffle.

_Was it too much for her, what they had just done?_

He had to make sure that this situation wasn’t embarrassing for her so he asked her carefully. “Are you ok?”

She sniffled again and stopped the caresses on his arm.

“My daughter hates me.”

He blinked and frowned. He wasn't sure what to say to that, but he tried his luck anyway. “No. You have against like any parent-teenager, but she doesn't hate you, Abby.”

He didn't know where it came from but a surge of compassion had pushed him there.

Marcus pulled his hand up through her long hair and stroked it gently to soothe her. He had taken a liking and she also apparently since she relaxed little by little against him. Marcus placed a kiss on the top of her head, smiling.

“You just have to show her that you love her and that you are proud of her. I know this is the most important for a child.”

These words touched her. There was a part of lived in what he said, a part of personal grief, she felt it and it revealed a part of him that she had never seen before. She also felt that if she asked, he would answer. However, she didn't and just wrapped her arms around his and whispered softly. “Thank you...”

His words surprised him but he continued tenderly, that strange feeling shaking him again.

He swallowed with difficulty the ball of sadness that had assaulted him when he thought about his father and spoke as calmly as possible. “My pleasure.”

A snort halfway between laughter and crying left Abby and surprised him somewhat. “Who would have thought that Marcus Kane knew about mother-daughter relationships ?!”

She turned her head towards him and gave him a tearful but amused smile. Kane might have been hurt by this remark and yet he wasn't. He smiled at her and stroked her cheek tenderly.

It was by seeing her like this and analyzing her reaction that he understood the evil that was gnawing at him.

Marcus Kane was _in love_ with Abigail Griffin. The woman who smiled at him, with whom he had fucked several times and made love instantly.

He had loved her since she kissed him in his kitchen, since she kissed him in the woods, since their first lovemaking at the ball, since their first kiss in the moonlight bathroom... since when he had spoken to her for the very first time in his life.

“I have to go back home.”

The man was so tormented that he didn't understand what she had just said until she got out of bed and started to put on her clothes. He straightened up and grabbed her hand gently before making small circles on the back of it with his thumb.

_Did he miss something? They looked peaceful a few seconds ago though, so why was she rushing?_

“You can stay a little longer, you know.”

“No, I really have to go home. Jake will be worried if he doesn't see me at home when he gets to it.”

_Jake... of course._

After this fabulous sharing of tenderness, sweet words, quite simply love, Marcus had hidden a very important part in their relationship.

_He wasn’t the only man in her life._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoping you like this one, sorry for the delay 🥴
> 
> The next one is hard and painful so get ready 😘


End file.
